Method for measuring the effectiveness of stimuli on decisions of shoppers

ABSTRACT

Methods for the evaluation of stimuli such as broadcast commercials intended to promote purchases by shoppers are disclosed. The methods quantify the effectiveness of controlled variables of stimuli and of inducements associated therewith. The immediate impact and degree of erosion of the impact of stimuli on families and on individual household members are measured. Inducements can take the form of printouts, such as monetary coupons, dispensed in homes of broadcast audience members who have responded to a task. The system and method for evaluating responses to broadcast or telephone programs, such as television programs, includes an instructional signal, such as a signal modulated onto a signal transmitted concurrently with the television program, or time-multiplexed therewith. At each of a plurality of remote receiving stations, one or more members of an audience has the opportunity to respond to a situation presented in the program by entering a response or a selection on a keyboard. The system includes at each remote receiving station a memory responsive to the instructional signal for storing acceptable responses, and a comparison circuit for comparing responses entered at the keyboard with those stored in the memory. Also provided is electronic circuitry for scoring the responses in accordance with commands from the instructional signal, and a recording device for providing a permanent record. A prize-winning respondent can select a product from a listing and apply the value of a prize to the purchase price of the selected product.

This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser.No. 763,672 filed Sep. 19, 1991 and Ser. No. 604,787 filed Oct. 25,1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,752 and Ser. No. 603,882 filed Oct. 25,1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,915 and Ser. No. 424,089 filed Oct. 19,1989, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,807 and Ser. No. 192,355 filed May 10,1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,255 and Ser. No. 192,248 filed May 10,1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,592 and Ser. No. 837,827 filed Mar. 10,1986, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,468, re-examined and re-issued Jun. 11,1991, Re-examination Certificate (1490th) B1, 4,745,468.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the measuring of the impact of stimuli onindividuals and, more particularly to evaluating the short term and longterm effectiveness of broadcast and print stimuli under varyingcircumstances.

Market researchers currently make great efforts to improve the degree ofaccuracy and validity of results that measure the impact and lastingeffect of isolated and combined purchase stimuli such as television andradio commercials, as well as print advertisements. Yet, no method orsystem for achieving these objectives has been available. A particularlyimportant target area of market research has been the assessment andevaluation of the continuing effectiveness of advertising and salespromotions presented to a shopper before the shopper enters a retailstore, as affected by various types of in-store promotions andpoint-of-purchase advertising.

Also, heretofore, there has been no technique available to marketresearchers to quantitatively measure on an individual or on a householdbasis the effect of variables affecting promotions, such as frequencyand timing of stimuli, shopping inducements and their effect ondifferent population segments.

It therefore is an object of the present invention to quantify theinitial impact and the continuing effectiveness of advertising onshoppers with respect to an identified advertisement in terms of thepurchase of the advertised product. It is another object to measure themagnitude of sales which are lost and are excluded from a shopper'sintended purchases. Most of these purchases are directed to a differentproduct as a consequence of in-store advertising and the promotion ofproduct competitive with the product initially selected for purchase bysaid shopper based on the immediate impact of the advertisement.

It is another object of the invention to quantify the impact on shoppersof a number of controlled variables of an advertising or promotionalcampaign, individually or in combination.

Manufacturers of packaged consumer goods sold in supermarkets sometimesfind it difficult to obtain market data from these supermarkets. Yet,such manufacturers who are large advertisers are anxious to obtain asmuch feedback as possible giving them reliable information not only withrespect to the overall redemption of coupons, but broken down byhouseholds or, ideally, by individual family members. Such informationwould be of utmost value to all advertisers in that, once the buyinghabit or pattern of an individual household is known, marketing effortscan be focused on individual shoppers or families and the mailing costand other expenses of indiscriminate direct mailings can be avoided. Atypical example would be an elderly couple for which the said cumulativerecord would indicate no babyfood purchase and would obviatecorresponding coupon mailings.

The above objectives are attained by the invention by compiling acumulative record as described in a form that lends itself to directcommunication between families and manufacturers without requiringefforts or expenses by retailers.

The methods of the invention utilize shoppers' implementations ofindividual personal buying decisions, as evidenced by requested discountcoupons, in the quantitative measurement of a shopper's buying behavior.At the same time, shoppers' buying decisions are used as yardsticks inthe evaluation of the effectiveness of discrete functions of purchasestimuli.

All coupons, by their numbers or other identifications, can be traced tothe household having requested them. This makes it possible to comparethe coupons requested and redeemed with the coupons requested and notredeemed by individual families or shopping units. The method alsopermits an evaluation of each individual stimulus or advertisementhousehold by household.

It may not be necessary to provide for all of these indications byshoppers on a nationwide scale, as market research on a more limitedscale will yield data essential with respect to some marketing aspects,such as product development, packaging and overall advertising. In otherrespects, however, household by household data and purchasing behaviorare valuable, such as in respect to direct mailings. These and otherbenefits of the invention are described herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects quantifying the effects of advertising andpromotional activities are achieved by the invention.

In practicing the invention, the systems described in the aboveidentified patents and patent applications are used. Persons exposed tothe stimulus of a television, radio or printed advertisement or otherpromotion are given an opportunity to respond to a task, such as theselection of an advertised product or to provide an answer to aquestion. Following a response, such persons receive a token havingvalue, such as a coupon carrying a discount on the product featured inthe advertisement. In the case of a correct answer to a question, ashopper's response is entered in a programmed response unit, whichevaluates and scores the response and which prints a discount couponspecifying the advertised product. The response unit is programmed byelectronic instructional signals which convey acceptable responses andthe value of awards won by successful respondents. Each broadcast orprint advertisement can be identified by a reference element, such asalphanumeric data and/or by the time of its appearance. Thus a shopperin the process of selecting a product and receiving a prize couponidentifies the stimulus that brought about the selection and buyingdecision.

In another version of the above method, a shopper need not respond to aquestion, but makes a product selection and requests the printing anddispensing of a coupon carrying a discount on the chosen advertisedproduct by entering an appropriate request in the entering device of aresponse unit.

The response units at individual shoppers' locations have means fordispensing individual coupons following a response and for compiling acumulative record of products for which the shopper has requested orselected discount coupons. Such a cumulative record can take the form ofa tape intermittently printed as coupons are requested. Whereas thecoupons are dispensed individually when printed as described inconnection with the drawings, the tape matrix having the cumulativecoupon data printed thereon is temporarily retained in the response unitin the form of a tape.

It is removed and replaced the way the tapes of known calculators areretained until fully used, at which time they are replaced.

In the event a shopper uses, i.e. redeems all of the coupons requestedby purchasing the specified product, the total number of products thuspurchased will equal the number of products listed on the cumulativerecord compiled by the response unit of that shopper.

If, however, a shopper changes his or her mind following receipt of acoupon reading on a specified product and if said shopper purchases acompetitor's product instead, or purchases no product, the total ofpresented coupons will be less than the total of products shown on saidcumulative record, which reflects a shopper's original intention. Thedifference between these two sets of data represents the loss of salesdue to a change of heart by a shopper following the time of exposure tothe identified stimulus.

By identifying on each coupon the wanted product, the stimulusresponsible for the initial buying decision and the member of ahousehold, the method generates a person-by-person behavior pattern andreaction to discrete stimuli and to controlled variations thereof.

While the methods of the invention are applicable to all forms ofstimuli, including stimuli to induce acts other than purchases, such assurvey responses, the descriptions that follow focus primarily onpurchase promotions and are intended to be only illustrative.

The methods of the invention permit the heretofore unattainablestatistical analysis of a great many factors that have an impact on thebuying behavior of shoppers. The advance in the statistical measurementof intangible factors such as the combination effect of stimuli or theirtiming and the increase or decrease in the monetary value of purchaseincentives as reflected by the buying behavior of individual shoppers,is made possible by the methods of the invention which induce shoppersto avail themselves of monetary incentives in the form ofshopper-selected, product-specific discount coupons and similar hardcopy records; said inducements being promoted by the stimuli whoseimpact is to be quantified under controlled varied conditions.

The present method permits generating the buying pattern not only of ahousehold but of the individuals comprising said household, includingchildren. To identify each individual and in view of the fact that eachhousehold is associated with an identified response unit, the additionalidentification for each member of the household can be a very simpleone, such as a one-digit number or initial. Children will have noproblem entering their personal identification symbol when making aproduct selection.

The described methods thus add to present market research tools thecapability of statistically measuring the effectiveness of the discretepurchase behavior of an individual consumer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The systems and methods of the invention are outlined in the followingdescription, taken in connection with the following drawings:

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagrammatic view of a system incorporating theinvention and configured to show two embodiments of receiving stations,one receiving station employing simulcast radio and television signalsof a program produced in a studio, and the second receiving stationemploying a television receiver system modified to receive aninstructional signal from the studio;

FIG. 2 shows the audio spectrum and a portion thereof designated for aninstructional signal;

FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an electronic response unit in each remotereceiving station of FIG. 1 and 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing details of a dispenser of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the invention, similar to that of FIG. 3,the system of FIG. 6 employing the transmission of two signal groupseach having plural sets of signals, wherein first and second signals ofthe first signal group are transmitted by video and audio portions of atelevision program, the first and the second signals presentingrespectively a studio scene and a task for respondents, each and whereintwo sets of signals of the second group, an instructional group, arecombined with an audio signal of the first group;

FIG. 7 is an alternative embodiment of the system of FIG. 6 wherein thesignals of the second group are interleaved with the video signal of thefirst group by use of the vertical retrace time slot of a televisiontransmission;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a response unit for use with either of thesystems of FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a timing unit of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 shows the audio spectrum and a portion thereof designated forinstructional signal bands of the second signal group utilized,respectively, for answers and criteria for evaluating answers;

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic view of receiving stations of the inventioninstalled, as a further embodiment of the invention, in an aircraft,with separate receiving stations located at each passenger seat, thisembodiment employing a recording of a game situation with instructionsfor response, each receiving station being equipped for both audio andvideo;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing interconnection of electriccomponents of the system of the invention for the installation of FIG.11, the system of FIG. 12 employing response units having componentsdisclosed in FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a modification of the central stationof FIG. 6 to provide for an audio-only recording of the game program foruse by the receiving stations of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is an alternative embodiment of FIG. 12 for use of an audiorecorder, the system of FIG. 14 employing a recording provided by thesystem of FIG. 13, the system of FIG. 14 employing response units havingcomponents disclosed in FIG. 8;

FIGS. 15 and 16 show a modification of the systems of FIGS. 13 and 14,respectively, wherein the central station and the response units of thereceiving stations have been modified to be operative withresponse-criteria and scoring signals transmitted as unintelligibleaudio signals in the same audio band employed by the recorded audiodescription of a task-setting program and the audio instructions forresponse to the task;

FIG. 17 is a simplified diagrammatic view of the invention showing boththe central station and a receiving station in which an audio recorderhaving four separate channels is employed, the channels communicatingaudio signals for task and instructions, for synchronization, forresponse criteria, and for scoring criteria;

FIG. 18 shows additional equipment which may be incorporated in theresponse units of FIGS. 11, 12, 14 and 16 for communication of scoringresults by a digital communication system to a central dispenser for ahard-copy output of game results;

FIG. 19 is a timing diagram showing burst transmissions of response andscoring criteria between voice signals for an audio-only recordingemploying a single recording track;

FIG. 20 is a timing diagram showing simultaneous transmission of voice,synchronization, response and scoring criteria signal in an audio-onlysystem employing a multiple track recording medium;

FIG. 21 shows schematically an alternative embodiment of the inventionwherein the tape recorder is provided with five channels to allowseparate and independent recordation of a verbal description of a sceneand verbal instructions for responding to tasks presented in the scene;

FIG. 22 shows diagrammatically a further embodiment of the inventionwherein a respondent can activate a prerecorded program by use of atelephone, the prerecorded program including a task, questions,instructions for responding, response criteria, and signals enablingautomatic comparing of answers to predetermined responses and a scoringof responses by a response unit;

FIG. 23 shows diagrammatically a further embodiment in the transmissionof an instructional signal from a central station to a remote receivingstation by use of an optical link in combination with the video portionof a television transmission;

FIG. 24 is a diagram explaining operation of a telephone system of FIG.22 for use in debiting and crediting a respondent;

FIG. 25 shows diagrammatically the storage of information in two of thememories of the response unit of FIGS. 8 and 26;

FIG. 26 is a block diagram of a response unit which is a modification ofthe response unit of FIG. 8;

FIG. 27 is a flow chart for operation of a computer in the response unitof FIG. 26;

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a sequence of steps in the practice of themethod of the invention;

FIG. 29 is a block diagram of a further embodiment of the inventionwherein a central station and a set of remote playing stations areemployed to conduct a wagering game including the issuance of coupons,or other form of wagering record, in a forgery proof system;

FIG. 30 is a block diagram of a playing station of the system of FIG.29; and

FIG. 31 is a flow chart showing method steps employed at variouscomponents of the system of FIG. 29 for practicing the forgery proofwagering game.

FIG. 32 is a diagram of the method steps leading to shoppers' selectionof a product coupon.

FIG. 33 is a diagram of the method steps leading to an analysis of thelasting effectiveness of stimuli to promote shopping decisions.

FIG. 34 depicts an embodiment of a mailing piece used in the invention,FIG. 34-A being the side with purchase information and FIG. 34-B beingthe side with mailing information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, FIGS. 1-5 disclose embodiments of theinvention useful for programs to be conducted with participation fromremote audiences. In the disclosure of FIGS. 6-10, the system is adaptedfor a greater selection of, and modification of, parameters in criteriafor evaluating answers to questions. The criteria are controllable froma central station. A level of difficulty in the questions may beselected by a contestant. The embodiment of the system of FIGS. 1-5 isdescribed in terms of two signal groups, namely, a radio/televisionsignal group, Group One, and an instructional signal group, Group Two.The embodiment of the system of FIGS. 6-10 is described with referenceto at least four types of signals, namely, a television signalpresenting a studio scene (TV program), a television signal presenting atask such as a set of questions (task signal), a signal setting forthacceptable answers to questions (response criteria), and a signalsetting forth criteria to be employed in the evaluation of the answers(scoring mode). In FIGS. 11-22, there is shown a set of embodiments ofthe invention wherein an event, scenario, presentation, situation orother scene having a task to be performed is recorded for subsequentplayback to respondents. The system of FIGS. 1-5 will be describedfirst, this being followed by a description of the system of FIGS. 6-10and the system of FIGS. 11-23. The systems of the various embodimentswill now be described primarily in the context of responses to tasks andquestions; it being understood that the practice of the invention isapplicable to the making, evaluation and rewarding of predictions.Methods and systems employed in the context of predictions of theoutcome of events are more particularly described in connection withFIGS. 22 and 24.

FIG. 1 presents a simplified description of a system 10 wherein acentral station 12 includes a studio 14, such as a television studiowhich broadcasts programs to many external or remote receiving stations,two such receiving stations 16 and 18 being shown by way of example. Inaccordance with the invention, each of the receiving stations 16 and 18includes means for observing the broadcast program, such as a televisionscreen 20, and means by which persons in the external viewing audiencecan respond to situations presented in the studio, the response meansbeing a response unit 22 which evaluates and records responses enteredby persons in the viewing audience.

Two signals are broadcast by the central station 12 to each of thereceiving stations 16 and 18. One of these two signals is a programsignal for presenting on the television screen 20 a program generated inthe studio 14. The second of the two signals is an instructional orcommand signal for operation of the response unit 22, the instructionalsignal providing appropriate commands to the response unit 22 forevaluating, rejecting or accepting, and scoring audience responses toquestions raised in the televised program.

Two modes of transmission are provided for the two signals. In the caseof the receiving station 18, both of the signals are carried by a singletelevision channel carrier radiated from an antenna 24 of the centralstation 22, and received by an antenna 26 at the receiving station 18.The antenna 26 connects with a television system 28 which includes theforegoing television screen 20 and, furthermore, includes circuitry 30for the separation of the instructional signal from the program signal.The instructional signal is then applied via line 32 to the responseunit 22. In the case of the receiving station 16, the two signals areprocessed separately. The instructional signal is broadcast by a radiochannel employing a radio antenna 34 at the central station 12, andreceived by an antenna 36 at the receiving station 16. Thus, at thereceiving station 16, a standard television set 38 including the screen20 receives the televised program via antenna 26 and presents theprogram on the screen 20. A separate radio receiver 40 and demodulator42 are employed for receiving the instructional signal and for applyingthe instructional signal to the response unit 22.

In the practice of the invention, the instructional signal may betransmitted to a remote receiving station in any convenient manner suchas via a cable transmission or by a specially broadcast transmission(not shown) or by combining the instructional signal with the audiosignal in a radio broadcast or television broadcast. The combination ofthe instructional signal with the audio spectrum is demonstrated in thegraph of FIG. 2 which shows a typical relationship of amplitude versusfrequency in a transmitted audio spectrum. In that spectrum, arelatively narrow frequency band is set aside for transmission of theinstructional signal, the narrow frequency band being at the upperfrequency edge of the audio spectrum.

For example, the bandwidth of the instructional signal may beapproximately 1% of the audio bandwidth, this being sufficient to enablea relatively slow transmission of instructional data to the responseunits 22 in the respective receiving stations. By maintaining theamplitude of the instructional signal well below that of the audiosignal, the instructional signal does not introduce more than anegligible amount of interference with the audio signal. Also, it isnoted that the instructional signal is not continuously present but,rather, appears only for a momentary burst of time, typically less thana few seconds duration, when necessary to instruct each response unit22. In the case of the receiving station 16, a simulcast of radio andtelevision is employed while, in the case of the receiving station 18,only the television program is broadcast, as has been described above.However, in both cases, the audio spectrum is the same, and the mode ofcombining the instructional signal with the audio transmission is thesame. Typically, the system 10 would be implemented with only one of thetransmissions, either the television transmission with the instructionalsignal combined therewith, as demonstrated by the receiving station 18,or by the simulcast of both the television and the radio transmissionsas demonstrated by the receiving station 16. In the case of thesimulcast, the instructional signal need not be combined with thetelevision signal, the instructional signal appearing only in the radiobroadcast from the antenna 34 as described above.

The receiver 40 and the demodulator 42 operate in a manner similar tothat of the separation circuitry 30, and will be described in detailhereinafter, with reference to FIG. 3.

In both of the receiving stations 16 and 18, the response unit 22includes a keyboard 44 whereby a person in the remote viewing audienceenters a response. The response unit 22 includes a dispenser 46 whichdispenses a record of the score and/or responses in a permanentrecording medium such as a card 48 of plastic, or similar material, andincluding a well-known strip of magnetizable material (not shown) uponwhich the score and/or responses have been recorded. Alternatively, byway of example, the dispenser 46 may be constructed in a form (notshown) for outputting a tape which has been imprinted or punched withthe desired information. Easily recognizable indicia may also beimprinted on the tape or card.

The system described lends itself well to multi-part questions and/or tomultiple choice answers, for any of which special forms can be provided,to be filled in or otherwise marked. The response recording and/or dataentering means can have provisions for the insertion of special forms orblanks, which can be made available or mailed to participants. Forexample, a school may mail to students forms specially prepared for aparticular examination or assignment. The response unit 22 may thereforebe configured to hold a recording medium such as a paper blank to whichmarkings are applied. Alternatively, the medium, such as paper tape,discontinuous or continuous forms, may be inserted by the respondents.

Examination papers, whether taking the shape of forms to be filled in,or the result of a free hand composition or narrative, may also begraded by the comparator means, which is capable of identifying keyphrases and words that are expected to appear on the completedexamination paper. In similar fashion, comparator means to be describedhereinafter is designed so as to be able to recognize and accept any oneor more of a plurality of predetermined key words, symbols or phrases.

Dispenser 46 can be adapted to reward children who have provided answersmeeting the predetermined response criteria by dispensing gold stars orother tokens. In another embodiment, the dispenser combines the couponsissued to winners with advertising material or shopping hints.

The records created pursuant to the present invention may be used astokens, coupons, certificates and general proof of participation in thebroadcast transmission program. Coupons may be redeemed by mail or inretail establishments for cash, prizes or discounts.

The following terms are useful in describing the system of theinvention.

The term "quiz program" relates to one or more questions orinterrogatories constituting an entire program, and also includes theinsertion of a question into other material, such as a cinematic filmpresentation.

The term "task-setting" is intended to include the meaning ofinterrogative, opinion-eliciting, prediction-eliciting andstatement-eliciting, as well as the soliciting of creative endeavors andall kinds of functions capable of being performed by an entry in a dataentering device.

The term "comparing" relates to one or more possible establishedresponses which may be established prior to or subsequent to acontestant's response (the previously known color of a golf ball, orduring a game, a prediction of how close the ball will come to thehole), and a comparing of an actual response to an established responseto determine if an actual response is acceptable. An acceptable responsemay be based on one or more words or phrase or alphanumeric symbol orselection of designated objects, by way of example.

The terms "evaluating" and "scoring" are intended to refer to andinclude the meanings of sorting, counting, screening, evaluating,analyzing and processing information, data and responses in accordancewith predetermined criteria, ranging from simple comparing tasks tocomputerized processing and analyses.

The term "interactive system" refers to a system for communicating froma sender to a respondent and having the capacity for allowing the senderto receive a communication, when desired, from the respondent whether bymanual or electronic means.

The term "response" is intended to include answers, elicited opinions,predictions and statements, text and narrative provided by contestants,respondents, students and other participants in broadcasts calling forinteraction, reaction and responses.

The term "response criteria" is intended to refer to descriptive words,key words, key phrases, parameters, equations, formulas, symbols anddefiniens describing or defining responses that have been determined bythe producer of a program to be acceptable in the context of a task soas to qualify for a reward.

The terms "outcome criteria" and "success criteria" are intended toinclude alphanumeric symbols and data by which the outcome of an eventcan be described, measured or identified, such as key and descriptivewords, coordinates, grid, pinpointed and other locations, pictorial,diagrammatic and graphic presentations, results, scores, counts,records, distances, rates and other measurements.

The term "processed response" is intended to refer to and include theresults produced by screening, sorting, scoring, evaluating, massaging,statistically analyzing, or otherwise machine-processing responses, dataand information provided by participants at the receiving stations.

The term "hard copy" is intended to refer to and include any kind ofpermanent record capable of being visually read, scanned or machineread. The term "matrix" may be used to refer to the source or originfrom which something originates, takes form or develops, such as acellulosic or plastic strip capable of being provided with printedmarkings or magnetic recordings so as to create a hard copy record. Theterm "simulcast" is intended to refer to the simultaneous, but separatetransmission from different propagating sources of the video and audioportions of a program.

In the context of formulating response criteria, the terms "formulate","generate", "format" and "reformat" are intended to refer to and includethe selection and determination of all factors affecting the evaluationand scoring of responses.

In the case of a task requiring a prediction of the outcome of an eventwhich has not yet occurred or been completed, such as the completion ofa forward pass in a football game, or winning a hand at a card game suchas bridge, the response criteria may be referred to as outcome criteria.The outcome criteria is to be transmitted to contestants at remotestations at a time after the prediction has been made.

In the context of transmitting response criteria, for example, on anaudio frequency, the use of the term "encoding" is intended to includevarious forms of signal coding as well as a transmission of signals atan increased speed which would render the signals unintelligible to thehuman ear. The term "encoding", as used by way of example fortransmitting response criteria, is intended to include other modes ofcommunication such as various forms of color signal coding andtransmission of signals to television stations capable of being read bysensors of devices for receiving signals outside the audible frequencyrange. The transmission of encoded information, whether within the audiospectrum or within the visual spectrum, is to be accomplished preferablyin a fashion which is essentially unnoticed by a contestant and cannotbe perceived as conveying information. In this sense, the encoding isperceptually unintelligible.

The term "keypad" is understood to include other forms of data entrydevices, the keyboard being presented by way of example.

The term "print-out" is intended to include printed, embossed, punched,stamped, and other types of hard copy, paper, cardboard and plastic inthe form of coupons, certificates, tokens, cards, forms and matrices.The printing of the print-out includes the foregoing forms of markingincluding the creation of three-dimensional configurations.

The term "central" as used, for example, in "central location", isintended to refer to a broadcast station or network serving a country, atime zone or a region, and also is intended to include discrete localbroadcast stations operating independently and serving a town or othersmaller geographic area, always provided that such "central" stationserves a multiplicity of remote receiving stations.

The terms "remote" or "external" as used for example in "externalaudience", are intended to include all television viewers and radiolisteners tuned into an electronic transmission station, irrespective ofthe distance from such central station; as such, a "remote" audienceincludes, for example, students or other respondents positioned in closeproximity to the source of a program, as in the case of a closed circuittransmission.

The term "interval" is intended to mean time interval or period of time.

The terms "code", "encoding", and "encryption" are intended to includealphanumeric codes, color codes, bar codes and symbols, including thosereadable, recognizable or conveyable by humans and machines.

The terms "acceptable response" or "acceptable answer" are intended toinclude all answers to a question, which answers meet or exceed aminimum standard or degree of accuracy, comprehensiveness orresponsiveness; such "acceptable answers" specifically includingpartially correct answers. Similarly "acceptable predictions" areintended to include predictions falling within predetermined parametersor meeting standards determined by the operator of an event followingits occurrence. Answers and predictions may be defined as "acceptable"irrespective of a level of difficulty or a scoring mode.

The term "commercial message" as used herein includes sponsored,paid-for and other messages intended for commercial purposes.

The term "user" of a recording medium as used herein includes viewers,listeners, and buyers of a recording medium such as video tapes, and thetarget audience intended to be reached by the commercial message.

The term "intelligible" is intended to mean intelligible to a humanwithout machine intervention, for example, without decoding,demodulation, change of transmission or receiving speed, or othermanipulations to make a signal intelligible to humans. The term"intelligible" includes material and forms of expression which can beseen or heard such as written material or speech. The term"unintelligible", as applied to various signals which may be transmittedby equipment employed in the practice of the invention, is intended toinclude signals which can be made intelligible only be machineintervention.

The terms "multipart task" or "multipart question" are intended toinclude any situations, such as questions, tasks and puzzles, in which acontestant is required to provide chronologically spaced responsesrelated to a common question, task, puzzle, or subject matter requiringan action by the contestant. Such a task may include so-called umbrellaor omnibus questions comprising sub-groups, contingent questions (e.g"if the answer is "true", then proceed to . . . ) and sub-questionsderived from a parent question.

The term "reward" is intended to include in its scope discounts, prizes,free merchandise, monetary awards and other rewards having monetary orsymbolic value. A "sweepstakes award" may be a special award of extravalue beyond the value of a typical award.

The term "host" is intended to include an on-stage and an off-stageannouncer, master of ceremonies, program director, operator, guest hostand celebrities, announcers of commercials and any other individualassociated with the program or appointed to carry out one or more of theactivities enumerated herein. It also is intended to include theindividuals engaged in the operation of formulating a message or programfor broadcasting on behalf of an advertiser, manufacturer, store orsponsor.

The term "difficulty level" is intended to include difficulty levels setby the host and inherent in the task or question, as reflected bypossible answers, as well as difficulty levels inherent in a response oranswer set by a respondent based on the speed, accuracy,comprehensiveness or responsiveness of the response and reflectingrespondent's confidence in his or her knowledge of the subject matter.Similarly, a "difficulty level" may apply to the outcome of an event, asreflected by possible predictions.

In the formulation of a response to a question by a member of theexternal television audience, in the ensuing description reference willbe made to a response in terms of recognition of key words as well asresponses which require several words as in a phrase, sentence, formulaand the like. It is to be understood that, in the generation of suchresponses, the term "word" includes also alphanumeric characters andother symbols such as pictorial representations which may be required asa proper response to a question.

With respect to various embodiments of the invention, the response unit22 may be configured to provide the foregoing functions of evaluatingand scoring, as well as the processed response.

In FIG. 3 the studio 14 is shown, by way of example, to include atelevision host 50, conducting a quiz program or game 52 in front of atelevision camera 54 which views both the game 52 and the host 50, and,also including when required, display means on stage (not shown) toprovide an image thereof, which image is televised or only visible tothe studio audience. Words spoken by the host 50, as well as othersounds in the studio 14, are converted by a microphone 56 to electricsignals.

Also included within the studio 14 is a keyboard 58 by which the host 50or another person, may enter commands and instructions to becommunicated via the instructional signal. The central station 12further comprises an encoder 60 a modulator 62, an oscillator 64, aband-pass filter 66, a summer 68, a combiner 70, a radio transmitter 72,a television transmitter 74, and a switch 76. The switch 76 connects aninput terminal of the combiner 70 to either an output terminal of thesummer 68 on line 78 or an output terminal of the microphone 56 on line80.

The instructional signals may be prerecorded and then propagated from acentral transmission station to remote locations. In such a case, thehost uses the keyboard (or other such device) to initiate thetransmission of the instructional signal message.

In operation, the pressing of keys on the keyboard 58 activates theencoder 60 to output digital signals representing the keys which havebeen pressed. The oscillator 64 outputs a carrier signal which ismodulated by the modulator 62 with the digital signals outputted by theencoder 60. The modulator 62 applies the modulated carrier signal to thefilter 66 which narrows the bandwidth of the modulated signal to equalthe instructional bandwidth shown in FIG. 2. The filtered signal iscoupled from the filter 66 to one input terminal of the summer 68, asecond input terminal of the summer 68 receiving the output electricalsignal from the microphone 56 via line 80. An output signal of thecamera 54 is connected to one input terminal of the combiner 70, eitherdirectly or via a video mixing unit (to be described with reference toFIG. 23). To facilitate the explanation of this embodiment of theinvention, it is presumed now that the camera 54 is connected directlyto the combiner 70. A second input terminal of the combiner 70 isconnectable via the switch 76 in line 78 to an output terminal of thesummer 68. In the alternative position of the switch 76, the secondinput terminal of the combiner 70 is connected via line 80 to receivethe output electric signal of the microphone 56 rather than the outputsignal of the summer 68. An output terminal of the combiner 70 isconnected to the television transmitter 74. Signals outputted by thesummer 68 are connected via line 78 also to the radio transmitter 72.

The signal outputted by the band-pass filter 66 is the instructionalsignal which is to be transmitted via either the transmitter 72 or 74 toa remote receiving station. The signal outputted by the microphone 56 isthe audio signal component of the signals transmitted in the televisionchannel via the transmitter 74, and is also transmitted via the radiotransmitter 72 to the remote receiving stations when a radiotransmission of the audio portion of the activity in the studio 14 isdesired. The summer 68 performs the function of combining theinstructional signal with the audio signal whereby the instructionalsignal shares a small fraction of the audio spectrum as shown in FIG. 2.This is accomplished by adding the output signals of the microphone 56and the filter 66 to output the sum signal on line 78. The combiner 70functions, in a well-known fashion, to combine the video portion of thetelevision channel signal from the camera 54 with either the microphonesignal on line 80 or the composite signal of the summer 68 depending onthe position of the switch 76.

In the event that the simulcast of both the radio and the televisiontransmissions is to be provided by the transmitter 72 and 74, the switch76 connects the combiner 70 to line 80 in which case the televisionsignal transmitted by the transmitter 74 has the standard format ofvideo and audio portions without the instructional signal, the latterbeing transmitted via the radio transmitter 72. In the event that theswitch 76 is connected to line 78, then the television signaltransmitted by the transmitter 74 includes the instructional signalwithin the audio portion of the television signal.

The circuitry of FIG. 3 demonstrates two possible embodiments of theinvention wherein the receiving stations may have either of the twoforms shown for the remote receiving stations 16 and 18. If all of thereceiving stations have the form of the station 16, then the switch 76may be placed in the position for connection of the line 80 to thecombiner 70, in which case the transmitter 74 transmits a normaltelevision signal while the instructional signal is transmitted by thetransmitter 72. In the event that all of the receiving stations are inthe form of the station 18 then the switch 76 connects a line 78 to thecombiner 70 for providing a modified form of the transmitted televisionsignal wherein the instructional signal is included within thetelevision signal. In such case, the radio transmitter 72 is not used bythe invention, but may, nevertheless, transmit a radio program to remoteradios which do not form a part of the system of the invention.

The television system 28 comprises a receiver 82, a demodulator 84, anda speaker 86. The separation circuitry 30 comprises a narrow-band filter88 and a demodulator 90. The passband of the filter 88 is equal to thebandwidth of the instructional signal shown in FIG. 2.

In the operation of the receiving station 16, the receiver 40 functionsin the manner of a well-known radio receiver for receiving the radiotransmission incident upon the antenna 36. In addition, the receiver 40includes a narrow-band filter 92 having a passband equal to that of thefilter 88. Thereby, the filter 92 extracts from the audio spectrum theportion of the spectrum, shown in FIG. 2 designated for theinstructional signal. The signal outputted by the filter 92 isdemodulated by the demodulator 42 to recover the digitally formattedsignal produced by the encoder 60, which digitally formatted signal isapplied to the response unit 22 for providing instruction thereto. Thetelevision set 38 in the receiving station 16, as noted hereinabove,functions in accordance with the well-known form of television setoutputting both audio and video signals, the latter appearing on thescreen 20.

In the operation of the receiving station 18, the receiver 82 includes awell-known television tuner (not shown) and outputs the televisionsignal of the channel to which the receiver 82 is tuned. The televisionsignal outputted by the receiver 82 is demodulated in a well-knownfashion by the demodulator 84 to provide a video signal which ispresented on the television screen 20, and an audio signal which ispresented by the speaker 86.

In accordance with a feature of the invention the demodulator 84 alsoapplies an audio signal to the filter 88 of the separation circuitry 30.The filter 88 extracts the portion of the audio spectrum designated forthe instructional signal, as does the filter 92, and outputs theinstructional signal to the demodulator 90. The demodulator 90 operates,as does the demodulator 42 to recover the digitally formatted signalproduced by the encoder 60, which digitally formatted signal is appliedto the response unit 22 to provide instruction thereto. Thereby, theresponse units 22 of the receiving stations 16 and 18 are able tofunction concurrently with the presentation of the broadcast televisionprogram upon the television screens 20. As indicated in the drawing forthe receiving station 18, a member of the normally remote audience 94operates the keyboard 44 of the response unit 22 while listening to thespeaker 86 and watching the television screen 20.

With reference to FIG. 4, there is shown one embodiment of the responseunit 22 of FIG. 3. The circuitry shown therein accomplishes the majorfunctions of the response unit 22, namely, providing a member of theaudience 94 with a means for entering a response to a situation viewedon the television screen 20 and/or heard via the speaker 86, notaccepting (rejecting) or accepting, evaluating and scoring suchresponse, recording such response, and outputting a temporary orpermanent record of the response. In particular, it can be advantageousif the permanent record is in the form of the card 48, which form ismachine readable to facilitate a reading of the score and/or response byeither a third party or the host 50. It is to be understood that thecircuitry of FIG. 4 constitutes only one possible embodiment of theinvention for performing these functions and that other embodimentsemploying a digital computer suitably programmed (not shown) may also beemployed.

The response unit 22 comprises three decoders 96, 98, and 100, aregister 102, a score counter 104, a memory 106 for storing data, and amemory 108 for storing an operating program, a timer 110, a gate 112, abuffer store 114, a comparator 116 for comparing output signals of thestore 114 with the memory 106, a logic unit 118, and a clock 120, thesecomponents being in addition to the keyboard 44 and the dispenser 46disclosed previously with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3.

In operation, the memory 106 stores data with respect to the answerswhich are to be provided by the viewing audience. For example, in theevent that the viewing audience is composed of children in a children'sshow wherein children are learning to identify colors, the host maypoint successively to a red hat, a blue table, and a green car andrequest to know the colors of the respective objects. In such case, thememory 106 would store response criteria, in this instance, the wordsred, blue, and green in the sequence corresponding to the order in whichthe objects are to be addressed by the host. The keys on the keyboard 44may be similarly colored to enable entry of the correct response.Alternatively, for older children, the keyboard may be an alphanumerickeyboard, as is found on a typewriter, in which case the viewingaudience is to type the words corresponding to the colors addressed bythe host. In this case, the comparator 116 would compare the spelling ofthe words entered via the keyboard 44 with the spelling of the colorsstored in the memory 106. The buffer store 114 stores the responsesentered via the keyboard 44 to enable the comparator 116 to compare theresponse with the data stored in the memory 106.

The method and system of the invention lend themselves particularly wellto educational shows for children. Questions pertaining to educationaltoys, to books, to stories and to subjects being taught or addressed,are interspersed in the show. Children are rewarded with tokens or otherforms of award, such as coupons redeemable at candy stores, ice creamparlors, and the like.

The score counter 104 operates under command from the program memory 108to score each correct response signal outputted by the comparator 116.When the response entered at the keyboard 44 agrees with the data storedin the memory 106, the comparator 116 outputs a logic-1 signal via gate112 to the counter 104. The output signal of the comparator 116 servesas an enable signal to initiate a count by the counter 104. The counterincrements its count by 1, 2, 3, or other amount depending on themagnitude of the score to be awarded for the correct response. In theevent that the response is to be timed in the sense that a limited timeis available for the response, then the timer 110 is activated by theprogram memory 108 to render the gate 112 in a state of conduction ofsignals of the comparator 116 only during the interval of time when theresponse is permitted. Both before and after this interval of time, thetimer 110 places the gate 112 in a state of nonconduction so that aresponse entered at the keyboard 44 outside of the desired responseinterval, or "window", cannot enable the counter 104 to increment ormodify the score.

The output count, score, or evaluation of the counter 104 is applied tothe dispenser 46 which includes a recording medium, such as the card 48,for providing a permanent record of the score. The dispenser 46 includessuitable magnetic recording heads (not shown)for recording informationon the card 48 in a well-known fashion. In addition, if desired, thedispenser 46 may include well-known encryption circuitry for recordingthe score on the card 48 in a fashion which cannot be read except by anautomatic card reader having circuitry for decrypting the recordedmessage. The dispenser 46 is activated by the program memory 108 toaccomplish the foregoing recording of the score.

The score counter/evaluator 104 can take different forms. While thescore counting function is described herein for illustrative purposes,it should be understood that unit 104 may be designed to perform theprocessing of data entered by respondents on keyboard 44 or other dataentering device. Included in such processing are, for instance, thecomputerized processing of data provided by respondents in accordancewith one of several programs stored in memory 108 and brought into playby the instructional or command signals transmitted by transmitters 72or 74. Questionnaires or forms used in market research may be stored indispenser 46 or may be placed into it by respondents. Following a set ofquestions, or upon the completion of the broadcast, processed orunprocessed data are issued by dispenser 46 in the form of hard copytaking the form of one of the embodiments described. If desired, theactual response entered at the keyboard 44, such as the words red, blue,and green of the foregoing example, may be recorded by the dispenser 46.For this purpose, the responses are coupled from the buffer store 114 toa register 102 wherein the responses are stored prior to recording atthe dispenser 46. After all of the responses have been stored in theregister 102, the program memory 108 strobes the register 102 to passthe data of the responses into the dispenser 46 for recordation upon thecard 48 or such other form of storage media as may be employed.

The printout mechanism or marking device may take different forms tomeet the requirements of the broadcast, whether quiz programs,educational programs, tests surveys or other task setting assignments.These devices may be relatively small, utilizing a continuous tape asthe substrate to which the markings are applied, or they may utilizefull page printouts. The recording medium may be a special form or blankdispensed individually by the device as a cut section, or may take otherconfigurations, including discontinuous shapes.

Although completely blank forms may be used in recording respondents'entries in the data entering device, in many instances the forms orblanks preferably are provided with lines, grids, schematics and thelike for easier subsequent scoring of responses recorded on such formsor blanks.

To prevent tampering, forging and counterfeiting, the recording mediummay comprise material, such as paper or cardboard stock, plastic and thelike, of special composition or containing admixtures of identifiablesubstances facilitating recognition by electronic or other sensing andscanning devices. Verification may also be facilitated by usingrecording media that are colored, coated, embossed, textured, magnetizedor otherwise given recognizable properties.

By replacing the recording media, such as rolls of paper tape,periodically, and by stipulating redemption of the record thus createdwithin a specified time period, the unauthorized reproduction, tamperingwith and counterfeiting of the marked recording media can, for allpractical purposes, be prevented.

The marking may be applied by any known methods, including printing withor without impact, using ink sprays, heat, magnetic pulses, laser beamsand other light sources. The markings may also take the form ofdepressions and embossed configurations legible by appropriate devices.

In addition, to prevent tampering, the recording mechanism, such as aprinter, can be provided with means for alternatively and selectivelyapplying one of a plurality of different types of markings. As anexample, the color, intensity, width, spacing, positioning, font andresolution of the markings may be built into the recording means and maybe controlled by radio or other electronic command signals from acentral station.

The shape and configuration of the markings to be utilized at anyparticular time and subject to change at any time, includes numbers,letters, dots, dashes, regular and irregular shapes, codes, symbols andother configurations, which may be discrete, connected or continuous.The markings may also comprise shapes and configurations having nodiscernible pattern and readable only by appropriate scanning, readingor decoding means.

The number of combinations and permutations of the above mentionedproperties of the recording media and markings is so large aspractically to preclude tampering, forging, altering, counterfeiting orreproduction of authentic records; the unauthorized manufacture ofspecial composition paper alone, would be far too costly andparticularly time consuming to be practical.

According to a feature of the invention, with respect to preventing theforging of prize winning coupons, a would-be forger is denied use of theprinter to accomplish forgery.

As an illustration, a TV-viewer having a response unit (as describedabove) in his home, is provided with two materials or matrices to formhard copy outputted by the dispenser. For example, the matrices may be apaper tape comprised of 100 coupon sections, which tape is fed into theprinter of the response unit, and a verification card having 100 spacesor boxes. The coupons and the card have the name or other identificationof the TV-viewer imprinted thereon. Codes can be provided on both thetapes and cards. The paper tape and the verification card aretamper-resisting in various ways. Both can carry time limits forredemption. Tapes and cards provided to TV-viewers, say monthly, can forexample have a 30-day limit for redemption. In view of the specialcomposition of the tape and the card, their duplication by a forgerwould be impractical, because special paper or cardboard would have tobe manufactured. The individual coupons and the spaces or boxes on thecard carry identical consecutive numbers.

Each time a winning coupon is presented at a redemption center, thewinner of such a prize is required to present the verification card. Thenumbers on the winning coupon and on the card are compared to verifytheir matching. When the coupon is redeemed, the corresponding space orbox in the verification card are canceled or invalidated by any one ofmany known methods, such as marking, punching, tearing off, stamping andthe like. When 100 coupons have been presented, both the paper tape andthe verification card have been used up.

By the method described, forging of coupons alone is rendered useless.Frequent changing of the properties of tapes and cards by the operatorof the system and the multiplication of obstacles faced by a would-beforger are so great as to make forging practically impossible.

A similar system can be employed when using magnetized cards in lieu ofpaper coupons. The magnetized card of a winning contestant is providedwith identifying indicia and codes, the verification card carryingmatching markings and codes. The redemption procedures are similar.

If magnetized cards are used and validated by dispenser, the validationmay be erased at the time a card is presented for redemption, so that itmay be reused.

It is noted that the data to be stored in the memory 106 is provided bythe instruction signal on line 122 or 124 from the demodulators of thereceiving stations 16 or 18 shown in FIG. 3. The digital format of theinstructional signal is decoded by the decoder 96 to extract the portionof the signal relating to the data which is to be stored in memory 106.The decoder 98 decodes that portion of the signal which is to beemployed for presetting the timer 110 for the designated interval ofresponse time. The decoder 100 may be coupled directly to the memory108, or via an OR gate which will be described with reference to FIG.23. To facilitate the present explanation of this embodiment of theinvention, it is presumed that the decoder 100 is connected directly tothe memory 108. The decoder 100 decodes that portion of the instructionsignal which presets the memory 108 to any one of a number of previouslystored formats for responding to situations presented in the studio 14.In this regard, it is noted that the form of the instructional signalfollows common communication practice wherein the instructional signalis set up as a sequence of digital words or fields which identifyrespective portions of the message dealing with data, timing interval,and program commands. Thereby, the decoders 96, 98 and 100 are able torecognize the specific parts of the instructional signal and to extractthe requisite data and commands. The response criteria may consist of asimple requirement to be met by a respondent or may comprise a pluralityof independently variable factors.

The control logic 118 operates in response to a succession of clockpulses provided by the clock 120 for outputting control function signalsto the memories 106 and 108 and to the buffer store 114. A connectionbetween the keyboard 44 and the logic unit 118 provides for a controlfunction, such as an entry command whereby a person responding directsthe store 114 to enter the data inputted by the keyboard 44. The controllogic of the unit 118 may also be activated by a command from theprogram memory 108. Thereby, the response unit 22 is capable ofreceiving, scoring, and recording a response entered by a member of theaudience at a remote receiving station.

The construction of the foregoing system of the invention permits itsuse in numerous situations involving participation wherein members inthe external audience are to participate with members of the studioaudience in situations requiring participation. An example of theutility of the system may be demonstrated by considering a televisiongame/quiz show involving both people at home as well as in the studio.The invention makes it possible to broadcast quiz show permitting homeviewers to become participants and contestants. The invention isapplicable to a variety of present and future game shows.

As an illustration, a game show or quiz program may include the task oflisting, in reverse chronological order, the names of all teams havingwon the baseball World Series, or the World Soccer Championship. A timelimit is set which makes it impossible for contestants to enter allcorrect answers; this is common practice in aptitude tests.

There are five contestants on the studio stage. Each studio contestantis equipped with well known means to write, print, type or otherwiseenter his or her response on a board, keyboard or other data enteringdevice adapted so that the responses, in the process of being entered,may be projected on a screen or screens visible to the studio audience,but not to the contestants and not to the home viewers until thepredetermined time limit has been reached, or until the time allowed hassubstantially been consumed. The responses of studio contestants can bedisplayed to the studio audience and to home viewers with some delay,thereby preventing any of the home contestants from benefiting from theanswers of the stage contestants.

It therefore is an object of the system described to elicit responsesfrom contestants at remote sites and to capture their responses in theirdata entering devices essentially before the responses given by stage orstudio contestants become known to home contestants. This isaccomplished by projecting the questions on a screen hidden from studiocontestants but in view of the camera 54 of FIG. 3. Concurrently with,or prior to the projection of the questions, the host 50 employs thekeyboard 58 to transmit instructions to the response units 22 of theremote audience. The response entered by a participant in the remoteaudience is timed and is subject to a time limit, the time period toconclude before the questions are presented to the studio contestants.Thereby, the responses of the remote audience are not influenced by theresponses of the studio contestants. Keyboard 58 may be operated by aperson other than the quiz show host and may be situated on-stage oroff-stage.

In a simple version, the system can be employed to attract viewers andlisteners not normally disposed to participate in game or quiz shows perse, but willing to answer a few unobtrusive questions, especially ifpertaining to a subject of interest to the viewer. By responding toquestions, a home viewer can, in effect, act as a contestant. Thequestions to be answered by home viewers and radio listeners can beinterspersed in shows other than quiz shows and can be so simple as torequire essentially only a confirmation by participants of being tunedin to a particular program.

Thus, for instance, home participants may be asked to identify the soapopera character who earlier appeared in the program. Or home viewers ofa sports program may be asked to name a player who just scored. Theseimplementations of the system and accompanying awards to a correctanswer are intended to increase the television and radio audience.Viewers of a soap opera or persons listening to a radio sportsbroadcast, constitute a highly targeted audience and as a result of thelower per-household cost, advertisers will be able to award morevaluable coupons and prizes to successful respondents. Participants whohave given an acceptable answer can be rewarded with a coupon of definedvalue to be redeemed in cash, or to be applied to the price of aspecified product or to the price of any product in a specified retailoutlet. Other forms of rewards, whether of commercial or symbolic value,may be devised.

Advertising material, such as shopping hints and promotional materialmay be provided on hard copy records as coupons, prior to the deliveryof the matrix, for example a paper tape, to participants at remotelocations; or the advertising material may be provided and printed onthe coupons at the time at which other data, such as prize information,is provided thereon.

The latter method has the advantage that a sponsor or advertiser canhave up-to-date promotional information printed on coupons by directingthe station which transmits instructional signals to remote locations toinclude in such signals the desired advertising material. Alast-minute-telephone call by an advertiser to the sub-carrier stationwith directives to incorporate certain instructional signals in thesub-carrier transmission will result in a large number of shoppers beingalerted to special sales through up-to-the-minute coupon promotions.

The quantitative results obtained by this method can also be used in thestatistical analysis and the reactions of audiences tuned in to certainprograms. It is noted that the equipment of the invention may well beinstalled in numerous selected or random households in which case,responses by household members can readily serve as a bases forstatistically sampling peoples' responses to a product, service,political candidates, corporate images and other subjects of surveys.The increased audience provided by the invention is significant insurvey and market research fields because, by way of example, anincrease of sample size from 2000 to 2 million will reduce a samplingerror from 3% to 0.1%.

In the field of qualitative market analysis and consumer research, thesystem and methods described can be employed very effectively,substituting home viewers and listeners for the so-called focus groupsor other population samples used to determine buyer responses toproducts and services. The versatility and flexibility of the homekeyboard or other data entering device are particularly well suited tothe elicitation of unbiased responses to questions or statements byadvertising agencies and market analysts. The market research and othersurveys and polls made possible by the system and methods described, canbe part of a regular quiz show or can can be conducted separately.Respondents are rewarded for their cooperation by issuing certificates,coupons and the like to them. The permanent records produced by thedispensing means in remote locations can be mailed to the researchorganization. For this purpose the forms dispensed by the dispensers inparticipants' homes can take the form of self-addressed returnenvelopes. Special printed forms may be used in conducting research intorespondents' reactions to tasks or questions. Coupon awards be dispensedseparately or may be a tear-off section of a survey form.

The relative simplicity and compactness of the electronic devicescomprising the response unit, and the fact that the response unit is notconnected by wire and requires no installation, makes it possible todesign the response unit as a portable unit. A plurality of such unitsmay be placed in systematically or randomly selected homes, used for thedesired research purposes and thereupon moved to new locations. Theunits may be battery powered to provide mobility for use at private orpublic locations.

For the implementation of game/quiz shows, the following advantages ofthe invention are noted. The system of the invention does not requireany wiring or rewiring of a home nor the use of telephone lines, and maybe offered to viewers free of charge. In the context of the disclosedembodiment, a telephone is suggested merely as a convenient and rapidmeans for interaction between respondent and host, but is not requiredto practice the invention. For example, the external audience might belocated in a separate room within walking distance from the studio inwhich case interaction can be accomplished personally by allowing amember of the external audience to walk over to the studio. The systempermits home viewers to participate in quiz shows on the spur of themoment without advance notice and without any requirement for specialforms or entry blanks. The system can be superposed upon a variety ofgame and quiz shows to permit viewer participation without interferencewith existing show formats, and has the advantage of expanding thetelevision audience, thereby attracting sponsors of the shows. Themachine readable card 48, or a one-time coupon which may be outputted bythe dispenser 46, may be presented or redeemed for prizes by successfulparticipants at a local store or other business establishmentcooperating with the broadcaster.

When applying the methods and systems described to a multi-part task,contestants normally are confronted with a situation, such as questionsor puzzles, in which a plurality of entries on the response enteringdevice are required, the total of the responses determining thecorrectness or acceptability of a contestant's response.

While such an event or operation of such a task is in progress, theresponses, entered piecemeal, as well as the applicable responsecriteria, are stored at contestants' locations. In a game shoesituation, one unacceptable answer may eliminate or disqualify acontestant from winning a prize. The task may be presented all at once,or in parts presented successively and calling for a partial response toeach partial task.

The comparison and scoring means can be programmed to perform theirfunctions at each stage of the task, upon completion of the entire task,or following a group of partial tasks. The printer/dispenser normally isprogrammed to operate at the end of all responses by a contestant to amulti-part task.

The system provides simplicity in the administration of the game byidentification of the successful respondents; this is readilyaccomplished at the dispenser 46 in each remote location by imprintingeach card 48 or token with the name of the respondent. If desired, thename of the respondent can also be inputted at the keyboard 44 as areother answers to questions. The questions may include multiple-partquestions and may require multiple choice answers, if desired. Thequestions may require simple answers such as yes or no, a single wordsuch as a number or a color, or a plurality of words as in a phrase ornarrative. Operation of the score counter 104 for various choices ofanswer permit a scoring of partially correct responses and those meetinga predetermined response criteria. In its simplest form, the keyboardmay be provided with only two keys to answer yes or no, while in a morecomplex form, the keyboard may include the alphanumeric character keysfor entering words or phrases, as well as other symbols.

If, as an example, a respondent must select a number from the numbers 1through 9, and if the completely accurate answer is 5, the comparatorunit may be programmed so as to accept any number between 4 and 6, or 3and 6, etc.

The response entering device 44 may be provided with keys, buttons,levers, or other means for indicating a response, which response canhave an assigned meaning. It may be a shorthand entry, standing for aword, a phrase or a sentence. A response unit may be constructed as adedicated unit for a specific purpose as for playing a game, in whichcase a key may generate a specific type of response or responses.

By way of alternative embodiments of the invention, it is noted that thecomparator 116 may output a multiple-bit digital word wherein theadditional bits are provided by the memory 106 dependent on the specificanswer stored in the memory 106, which answer is compared to theresponse within the buffer store 114. For example, if two possibleresponses would be regarded as correct, but one of the two responses ispreferred, then the comparator 116 would output an additional bit forthe preferred response. The additional bit would be passed by the gate112 to advance the count of the counter 104, thereby to increase thescore by a larger amount when the preferred response is entered at thekeyboard 44.

The formatting and reformatting can provide for various ways ofweighting the responses of home contestants, such as straight lineadditions, geometric and exponential progressions, or computations ofscores based on formulas incorporating discrete groups of responses.Thus, score counter 104 may be replaced with a microcomputer (not shown)which is responsive to commands from the memory 108 for combining inputsfrom keyboard 44, memories 106 and 108, and capable of reflecting thetime element, to serve, in effect, as an evaluator of complex answers.

According to the present invention, questions may be transmitted fromthe central station, to which more than one acceptable answer may begiven, the answers varying in the degree of difficulty from therespondent's standpoint. As an example, a question may call for naming aminimum of two European cities, the names beginning with the letter M,this being difficulty level 1. Difficulty level 2 might call for foursuch cities and difficulty level 3 might call for six such cities, allanswers to be entered within 30 seconds. The particular difficulty levelmay be specified by the person controlling the transmission, or it maybe selected by the individual respondent prior to seeing or hearing thequestion. In order to enable a contestant to choose a difficulty level,the host may announce or hint at the general nature, or the context ofthe question about to be asked. The degree of difficulty will normallydetermine the value of the prize, etc. The device evaluating theresponses may dispense records, e.g. coupons, certificates and the likeof different value or in different denominations. For instance, it mayissue a 10 cent coupon at level 1, and 25 cent coupon at level 2, and a50 cent coupon at level 3. The coupons may be redeemed in retailestablishments, the coupons being similar to those contained innewspapers. It should be understood, therefore, that in addition to thedifficulty level set by the host, a higher difficulty level may besuperimposed by an individual contestant, as will be disclosedsubsequently with reference to FIGS. 6-10.

By use of encryption, the card 48 provides an essentially tamper-proofrecord. The invention is applicable, not only to home viewers but alsoto viewers in a public establishment such as a restaurant or schoolwherein people may participate as teams. The questions may be gradatedto be suitable for a variety of audiences varying from those havinglimited formal education to those having special interests. By use ofthe timer 110, the studio host can designate the beginning and end of aresponse interval, and vary the time limit allowed from question toquestion. In addition, the invention lends itself to the development offurther forms of game and quiz shows. The difficulty level can beincreased by decreasing an allocated time for response.

It should be understood that individual questions may vary with respectto the nature of the task, the type and particulars of acceptableresponses, the difficulty level, the period of time allowed forresponding, the kind and range of prizes, the weighting of responses,the composition of the target audience and other considerations.

It should be further understood that normally the announcements toremote participants of levels of difficulty and of time intervalsallowed for responding to a task are transmitted and received in a formdirectly intelligible to participants, such as in open language. If anacceptable response criteria is transmitted, prior to entry of aresponse by a participant, it is conveyed in coded or otherwiseunintelligible form; if it is transmitted subsequent to such entry, itmay be conveyed in open language.

As an example in the use of the invention in the educational field, thememories of the response units at the remote locations receive andretain instructional signals from a central transmitting stationconveying the correct, preferred, or acceptable response or responses tothe task posed by the task-setting message. Upon completion of a task bya respondent, or upon lapsing of the allotted time, the printoutmechanism is activated by the instructional signals so as to communicateor so as to dispense in hard copy form the correct or preferred responseto each respondent at remote locations. In this manner, a student whoreceives a printout containing his or her scored response, also receivesthe "textbook" solution or most desirable response to the taskpresented. For comparison purposes, the dispenser may provide printedhard copy containing a student's original response.

The foregoing features in the operation of the system of the inventionare readily applied to the educational field to encourage both earlyeducational experiences among children as well as for home-study coursesfor high school and university students. In the educational field, thesituation portrayed in the studio and presented on the television screenmay be in the nature of a task-setting situation rather than that of apure question. The appropriate response be a brief statement, anequation, or may contain a number of cross-referenced key words or keyphrases or symbols. The system of the invention may be implemented alsoby closed circuit television and cable television as well as by thebroadcast situation of FIG. 1. The keyboard 44 at each of the responseunits 22 may be a standard typewriter keyboard, as noted above, or mayinclude a display of the typed response such as is presently availableon some electronic typewriters. Such a display would be useful in theanswering of examination questions for home-study programs. It is alsonoted that the keyboard 44 is representative of a response entry device,and may, if desired, be replaced by other entry devices such as ajoystick, switches, or a device responsive to a spoken voice.

Response evaluation means referred to herein may include, whenappropriate, as for example in the educational field, scanning devicescapable of recognizing symbols, diagrams, charts, formulas, equationsand drawings responsive to the response criteria.

In the practice of the invention, the answers given by studiocontestants may, for instance, be displayed to the studio audienceand/or broadcast to TV-viewers following a predetermined delay of, say5-20 seconds. During this 5-20 second period, the data or responseentering devices of the stage contestants, or the studio displaydevices, may be made inoperative, so that no answers may be enteredand/or displayed, even if the stage contestants are aware of thequestions. Other ways of staggering the "response windows" by 5-20seconds or more can be devised.

This time lag is intended to make the answers projected on studioscreens following the time lag useless to home contestants from thepoint of view of total time allowed for response. By the time thecorrect answers are televised, all or a critical amount of the allottedtime will have elapsed. This forces home contestants to enter theirresponses before knowing the responses of studio contestants.

By way of example only, a typical sequence of events as pertaining to aquiz show with studio and home contestants is as follows: TV homeviewers and contestants see and hear the questions without delay.However, the questions are presented to stage contestants and the studioaudience after a delay of 5-20 seconds. The respective contestants maybegin answering questions upon their presentation, subject to timelimits. Acceptable responses are presented to everyone, only after thestage contestants have completed their time for response.

To provide attention-attracting action on stage for the studio audienceand TV-viewers who are not contestants, the announcer or master ofceremonies can set the stage for the questions, or a performer may walkacross the stage to a podium and read the questions to the stagecontestants and the audience, thereby consuming 5-20 seconds. Thequestions are displayed on a screen, visible to all TV-viewers,including home contestants. Other ways of giving home contestants a headstart of 5-20 seconds, or more, can be devised. In another embodiment,the responses by stage contestants are entered, but not displayed for apredetermined period of time. Home contestants may be allotted more orless time than studio participants. If there is only one participant orcontestant on stage, the quiz show still follows the concept outlined.The studio contestants and/or home contestants may be allowed a choiceof different difficulty levels.

As an example, the use of key words and key phrases is illustrated inthe context of a game show described hereinafter, which might beentitled "Definitions". the host presents a situation, hints at, orannounces a dictionary word and defines the task as one of providing thecorrect definition or definitions of such word. The dictionarydefinition, frequently a phrase, is of course an acceptable answer.Using the task word "many" as an example, an indispensable key work thatwould have to appear in any acceptable response would be the word"number". However, two or more definitions may exist for a task word.

It will be obvious that this type of show lends itself well toevaluating partially correct and less-than-exhaustive responses. Partialcredit may be given to definitions that are reasonably close to thedictionary definition. A more complex task in the context of said showmight be the definition of the word "set", for which a large number ofdefinitions exist. Cumulative credits may be awarded to contestantslisting a plurality of key definition words or phrases.

According to another show format, separate quiz programs for studiocontestants and home contestants may be conducted concurrently by thesame game show host. He or she may, for instance, conduct one quizprogram for studio contestants in the manner described and while thestudio contestants ponder their answers may present supplemental, or aseparate set of, questions to home contestants, to which the latterrespond in accordance with the method of the present invention. Suchseparate questions for home contestants may be posed by a second oroff-stage announcer.

In the United States, Europe and other regions, television programs arefrequently broadcast repetitively in different time zones. In the caseof game shows, this enables television viewers who are tuned in to suchprogram and who are in a time zone which first receives one such game orquiz show to inform members of an audience in another time zone of thecorrect responses to tasks or questions, thus ensuring such members inother time zones of winning an award without having independentlycorrectly responded to such tasks. This potential problem resulting froma sequential broadcasting of television game shows in the context of thepresent invention will now be addressed.

When the awards offered successful contestants are of a monetary valuerepresenting, say 10-15 percent of the price of the merchandise, and aredesigned only to attract buyers to a store, then a sponsor, such as amanufacturer, may choose to ignore the risk of, or may even welcome,having members of an audience in a first time zone provide members in alater time zone, who themselves did not think of the correct answer,with an appropriate response. Awarding such viewer a 10 percent discountis similar to making 10 percent discount coupons available throughnewspapers and magazines.

A more serious problem may arise when a sponsor or manufacturer offersawards of a larger magnitude. In such instances, it is desirable toemploy a method, and such methods are hereinafter described, whichpermit airing a quiz or educational program presenting tasks orquestions calling for different responses in different time zones. Thisis achieved by a modified version of the methods described above, whichmodified methods may be practiced with the systems described in thisspecification and accompanying drawings.

For example, a host or professor may stand in front of a map of theworld. He or she verbally poses the question "In which country is theriver to which I am pointing located?" For purposes of thisillustration, the audio portion of the question, posed by an on-stage oroff-stage announcer, is referred to herein as a "module question", andnormally a quiz show or educational program comprises many such modulequestions. The object of formulating module questions is to be ableeasily and economically to substitute such module questions for eachother in the same show, which normally is taped prior to airing. Such amodule question, consisting of the audio portion of the question caneasily and economically be replaced by another audio portion, while themore costly video portion (the host pointing to a map) remains the same.

In such a modified method, a part of all of a question or task presentedin a program in one time zone, are differentiated and are different fromthe corresponding question or task asked in a similar program aired inanother time one. This is achieved by formulating at least a part of aquestion or task in interchangeable module form.

Either an entire question may be substituted in a program, or a part ofa question may be substituted. If only a part of a question is to besubstituted, such part can for instance be a part or all of only thevideo portion of a question. Normally, such interchangeable modulequestions will be of approximately the same length, so as not to affectthe overall length of a program.

If a program comprises an entertainment portion and a game or quiz showportion, the part of the show consisting of questions or tasks may beproduced and taped separately and independently of the entertainment ofother portions of the show. Many forms of implementation of this methodmay be devised. The example given below is illustrative of only one ofthe alternative methods which achieve the above mentioned object.

According to a preferred method, a plurality of sets of different tasksis formulated, using one set of tasks in one time zone and another setof tasks in another time zone. Although the tasks may differ in theirentirety, a preferred method is described wherein the tasks differ onlywith respect to their audio portion.

In the taping of the show, the video portion is the same in all tapes,irrespective of the time zone in which such program is to be aired ortransmitted by cable. The audio and video portions together form aquestion or task. The audio -portions of module questions change fromone such program to the next. Thus the host or professor is seen in allversions of the show to be pointing to the same map. He or she will,however, tape a plurality of oral module questions, only one of thesemodule questions being used in any one time zone. With reference to theabove example, in which a host points to a map of the world, anothermodule question may be "What is the name of the river?" Yet another suchmodule question by the host, or off-stage person, may be "Is the riverto which I am pointing among the five longest rivers in the world?"

The above described example involves the same host or professor asking aset of questions, each of which questions must be taped in its entirety.This necessitates the involvement of the host in asking a set ofsuccessive oral questions, while the video portion remains the same. Inanother version of this preferred method, the module questions, that isthe audio portions of each question, are asked by an off-cameraannouncer. This method has the advantage that in the taping of the show,the host spends only sufficient time in front of the camera to ask onequestion, the host providing such action in front of the camera as isrequired to make the oral module question asked by the off-cameraannouncer intelligible. Thus, the host may silently point to an object,such as a map, for a length of time permitting an off-camera announcerto pose one module question. Other module questions asked by theoff-camera announcer and accompanying the same video portion showing thehost, are dubbed or inserted into the appropriate part of the tape. Inthe taping of a quiz show intended to be aired in four time zones, anoff-camera announcer therefore asks four sets of module questions, oneset of these oral questions being inserted into the appropriate place ineach of the four program tapes used in transmitting the show in the fourtime zones.

According to a preferred embodiment of the above-described methods foruse in the presentation of quiz programs in different languages, a hostannounces the oral module questions in one language. Different oralmodule questions are dubbed in, both in the language originally used bythe host and in any other languages for use in different countries. Insuch an event the words and sentences chosen in formulating questions,are such as to lend themselves to dubbing. Also, the host whenannouncing some questions, can face towards a picture or a map, awayfrom the viewing audience, in order to facilitate dubbing.

Thus the dubbing technique is an economical method of achieving theabove-mentioned objective of utilizing the same video portions with avariety of different audio questions in different time zones.

Yet another example of a simplified version of the above methods mayentail a projection of a scene or the filming of an object without ahost being present. The object could be a well-known personality, or apicture of such personality; or an action shot of such personality maybe used. An off-camera announcer may ask a number of oral or modulequestions to meet the requirements of the number of shows to be shown indifferent time zones.

The examples set forth are simple ones and many different and morecomplex versions and implementations of the home quiz show are possibleand will occur to game show producers.

In some instances, such as in market research, the system described canbe employed to identify consumers meeting certain criteria. In thatevent, the memory and control elements of response unit 22 areprogrammed in accordance with the requirements of the particularconsumer research. Response unit 22 normally is placed in remotelocations, which need not be homes and can be other private and publicplaces. In an alternative application of the system, the response unit22 is equipped with appropriate means capable of limiting the functionsof the scoring and evaluation means. For this purpose, controls andswitches (not shown) are provided, which cause memories 106 and 108,logic control 118, comparator 116 and gate 112 to selectively performonly those evaluating functions required for the specific application.In such an event, dispenser 46 receives only partially processed dataand generates a record of responses entered on keyboard 44 reflectingresponses evaluated only to the desired extent and at least partiallyresembling the original information entered by respondents. Respondentsare rewarded in one of the manners previously described, including amonetary prize simply for participating in a test.

It is a particular advantage of the present system that the kind ofdata-entering device may vary between different remote locations.Furthermore, the kind of data entering, scoring or evaluating deviceinstalled at different locations may vary in accordance with theintended use. Thus, for instance, in selected remote locations,electronic devices of known design may be installed, which are capableof subjecting the raw data entered by respondents to computer analysis.

The invention may be practiced by providing two or more response unitsat each remote location together with one set of program presentingmeans. Providing more than one response unit, including means to modifya difficulty level and timing, and including comparison, storing,scoring and dispensing means in, for example, one household, enables twoor more family members to become contestants by responding individuallyto a situation presented by a single television or radio receiver basedon a program transmission from a central station. In a public place, aplurality of response units will generate increased and competitiveparticipation by persons present

FIG. 5 shows the buffer store 114, the register 102 and the programmemory 108, as well as further details of the dispenser 46 of FIG. 4 toaccomplish the imprinting of a response on a recording medium, such as apaper or card, having a prescribed format for the entry of answers. Ashas been noted hereinabove, such a data entry form or questionnaire, isuseful for providing responses by respondents in situations such ascontests, educational and advertising promotional or researchactivities. An example of such a questionnaire 126 is shown in FIG. 5.Therein, blocks numbered 1-6 are provided for entry of responses bymembers of the audience at the remote receiving stations 16 and 18.

Also shown in FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the keyboard 44,the view showing a keypad with keys for the entry of identifyingnumerals for identifying the blocks of the questionnaire 126 in whichthe respective answers are to be entered. The respondent identifies aquestionnaire block by holding down a control key Q while typing theidentifying numeral on the keyboard 44. The response to be entered inthat block is then typed by use of the alphabet keys of the keyboard 44.

The dispenser 46 comprises a decoder 128, a printer 130 and aprogrammable read-only memory (PROM) 132. In operation, the typed answerand the questionnaire block identification is applied by the keyboard 44and via the store 114 to the register 102. The contents of the register102, as described hereinabove, are subsequently transferred to thedispenser 46. The decoder 128 detects the presence of a digital wordproduced by the control key Q, and thereby decodes the incoming digitalsignals from the register 102 so as to separate the block identificationfrom the response. The decoder 128 activates the printer 130, upon theappearance of the response, to print the response on the questionnaire126, the latter having been previously placed into the dispenser 46 bythe respondent. The decoder also addresses the PROM 132 with the blockidentification, whereupon the PROM 132 outputs the block location to theprinter 130 to direct the printer 130 to print the response at thecorrect location on the questionnaire 126. Information with respect tothe layout of the questionnaire 126 is loaded into the PROM 132 by theprogram memory 108 as directed by the instructional signal on line 122or 124 of FIG. 4.

Alternatively, the block location data and the responses may be storedon the card 48 for printing out at another location, such as thefacilities of an advertiser or a company providing the promotionalactivities. The response may include a narrative text, in which case thecomparator 116 may be employed to signal the presence of key words inthe response, which have been previously entered into the data memory106.

By way of further embodiments of the invention, it is noted that thedispenser 46 may include a group of trays 134 each of which stores aseparate set of forms such as the questionnaire 126 upon which aresponse is to be printed. The trays 134 are activated by a controlsignal from the program memory 108 to present a blank form to theprinter 130 to be imprinted with the response. Information with respectto the desired form to be employed in response to a task-settingsituation is loaded into the program memory 108 by the instructionalsignal on line 122 or 124, whereby an instructor or the host 50 in aclassroom or in the studio 14 designates the requisite form for use inpreparing the response. The completed form, or questionnaire 126, exitsa slot 136 of the printer 130. The completed questionnaire 126 may beprovided on any suitable recording medium which serves as a hard copysuch as paper, plastic strip, or plastic card.

As was shown with respect to FIG. 4, the score counter 104 is undercontrol of the program memory 108. This permits the score counter 104 toactivated and deactivated by commands transmitted via the instructionalsignal. In the outputting of the foregoing questionnaire 126 from theprinter 130 with words printed in the appropriate blocks, a score canalso be imprinted upon the questionnaire 126 upon activation of thecounter 104, which score is omitted upon deactivation of the counter104.

The embodiments of the system of FIGS. 6-10 provide further capabilityto the system of FIGS. 1-5 for conducting a quiz or game-type televisionshow with both local and remote audience participation. The embodimentsof FIGS. 6-10 provide for selection of difficulty level, evaluation ofresponse based on key words and phrases, interaction between members ofthe remote audience and the program host as by use of telephonecommunication, and adaptation of the program by the host to theinteraction by modification and reformatting of response criteria as byaltering a basis or mode of scoring and a period of time allowed forresponse. As with the system of FIGS. 1-5, the present system of FIGS.6-10 can also be employed with radio programs. Descriptive materialrelating to the program can be transmitted over the video and/or thevoice channels of the television transmission. In particular, it isnoted that much of the system description provided in FIGS. 1-5 appliesalso to the system of FIGS. 6-10 but, that additionally, the systemdescription presented in FIGS. 6-10 shows the use of at least twoseparate signals, in the instructional signal group, for providinganswers and evaluating the answers under control of both the programhost and the remote viewer.

At the discretion of the television program conductor, or other personassigned for this purpose, and that of individual viewers, differentdifficulty levels may be applied to individual questions, it beingunderstood that answers to more difficult questions or answers to thesame questions at higher difficulty level may carry with them largerawards. However, even if only one set of response criteria isestablished for a task, it is understood that such response criteriacarry a specified or implied difficulty level. Each successfulrespondent may be issued a printout or similar hard copy displaying thevalue of the award and containing a code which is verifiable over thetelephone by a central station, or without the use of a telephone, by acooperating store or merchandising center, for issuing an award.

FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment of the invention having greaterversatility in the evaluation of learning situations and the scoring ofgames and contests by means of a system 200. In the system 200, acentral station 202 includes a studio 204, such as a television studio,and broadcasts programs to many remote receiving stations, one suchstation 206 being shown by way of example. Each of the receivingstations 206 includes means, such as a television screen 208, forobserving a broadcast program, and means by which persons in a remoteviewing audience can respond to situations presented in the studio 204.The response means is shown as a response unit 210 which, as will bedescribed hereinafter, includes circuitry for evaluating and recordingresponses entered by persons in the viewing audience.

A television program is conducted in the studio 204 by a host 212. Whilevarious types of programs may be employed in conjunction with the studyof specific subject matter, for example, a course in advertising orpackaging, in which there is a display of a specimen 214 of merchandise,or other subject of interest, to members of a remote television audience216 located at the remote receiving stations 206, a game programemploying a television game 218 is presented by way of illustration ofthe invention.

The use of a game is a recognized technique in the teaching of children,as well as older persons, in a classroom. The object of the study orprogram, designated herein as specimen 214, might be an article, such asfurniture or clothing, normally offered for sale, or other type ofobject such as a painting or animal in the case of study of such subjectmatter. For example, in a study of architecture, the "specimen" would bea model of a building, and in a home-study course of geography, the"specimen" would be a map or other teaching aid. In the case of servicesbeing offered, the specimen may take the form of an advertisement ofsuch services. Each receiving station 206 is provided with a televisionsystem 220 which receives broadcast transmissions 222 of the televisedgame show for presentation on the television screen 208.

In the studio 204, the host 212, or an associate who may be off-camera,is provided with two keyboards 224 and 226, respectively, for enteringappropriate responses to situations posed by the game 218 (responsecriteria) and for entering appropriate guidelines for scoring theresponses (scoring mode). The response criteria may consist of specificdelineating or parametric information. The game 218 and the specimen 214are viewed by a television camera 228 which provides video signals forthe broadcast transmission 222. It is to be understood that, in additionto the remote audience 216, a local or studio audience (not shown) maybe present within the studio 204 for participating in the game 218. Thehost 212 addresses the local audience and the remote audience by meansof a microphone 230, the microphone 230 providing an audio signal forthe broadcast transmission 222. In this example of the television game,a first video signal is transmitted to the remote audience to present apicture of of the game situation, this signal being followed, precededor accompanied by an audio signal in which the host describes the taskto be performed by the remote audience, which task may be the answeringof specific questions in a designated fashion. As described above, whenconfronted with a time zone problem, one or more off-camera announcersask a number of questions in the form of the oral or module questions,which module questions are then selectively inserted into the tapes oftelevision programs to be broadcast successively in different timezones. Alternatively, the second signal describing the task may betransmitted over the video channel by use of a display in front of thestudio audience, the display having the questions set forth in largelettering which is read readily.

With reference to both FIGS. 6 and 10, the central station 202 providesfor a modulation of signals of the instructional signal group outputtedby the keyboards 224 and 226 for the predetermined responses and scoringcriteria within the audio channel to occupy narrow spectral bands in theupper portion of the audio spectral band. The system 200 is readilydescribed in terms of four or more signals, the first signal being thetelevision signal portraying activity in the studio 204. The secondsignal provides the description of the task to be performed by thestudio and/or the remote audience. The studio scene and the task carriedby the first two signals are presented diagrammatically in a typicaltime sequence by a graph shown alongside the camera 228, it beingunderstood that the time sequence may be varied since the taskannouncement may precede or accompany the studio situation. The thirdsignal carries the designated criteria for a response or range ofresponses entered by the host 212 upon the keyboard 224, such criteriabeing, by way of example, key words to be entered by the respondents.The fourth signal provides the scoring mode or guidelines entered by thehost 212 upon the keyboard 226, such scoring being, by way of example,that an answer of the word "fish" is worth three points while an answerof the word "salmon" is worth five points. Additional examples ofresponse criteria and scoring mode are discussed herein.

As example of a further signal, a fifth signal providing a verificationcode for use in verifying a printout of awards at a remote station maybe sent subsequently along the same channel employed for transmission ofthe scoring criteria. The passbands of the third and the fourth signals,namely the response criteria and the scoring mode signals respectively,are indicated in FIG. 10, both of these passbands being much narrowerthan the passband of the audio spectrum, and carrying signal amplitudeof relatively low levels, as compared to the audio signal, so as toavoid any interference with the transmission of the voice of the host212. Since four separate signal channels are provided for the first fourof the foregoing signals, these signals may be transmitted in anydesired time sequence including a concurrent transmission of a pluralityof these signals. One or more of the signals of the four channels may beretransmitted with an updated message, such as a reformatted scoringmode, to adapt the game program to new scoring instructions by theprogram conductor, or to audience responses, thereby to provideinteraction between the host and the remote audience.

The central station 202 further comprises two signal processors 232 and234, the summer 236, a combiner 238, a transmitter 240 and twooscillators 242 and 244 coupled respectively to the processors 232 and234. The microphone 230 is connected to a first input terminal of thesummer 236. The processor 232 is connected between the keyboard 224 anda second input terminal of the summer 236 for encoding designatedresponse signals outputted by the keyboard 224, and for modulating thesignals onto a carrier frequency F₁, which carrier frequency lies in theresponse signal band of FIG. 10.

Similarly, the processor 234 is connected between the keyboard 226 and athird input terminal of the summer 236 for coding scoring mode signalsoutputted by the keyboard 226, and for modulating these signals onto acarrier frequency F₂, the carrier frequency F₂ being within the scoresignal band of FIG. 10. The summer 236 combines the response and thescore signals with the audio signal of the microphone 230 to output asum signal to the combiner 238. The combiner 238 operates in awell-known fashion to combine the audio signal of the microphone 230with the video signal of the camera 228 to output a composite televisionsignal to the transmitter 240 for transmission via antenna 246 as thebroadcast transmission 222.

Each of the processors 232 and 234 are constructed of the samecomponents, these components being an encoder 248, a register 250, amodulator 252, a band-pass filter 254, and a clock 256. The operationsof both of the processors 232 and 234 are the same and, accordingly,only the operation of the processor 234 need be described, it beingunderstood that this description applies also to the processor 232.

In operation, the encoder 248 digitally encodes signals provided byrespective keys 258 of the keyboard 226. The clock 256 outputs both ahigh speed clock signal and a low speed clock signal to the register250. The high speed signal has a relatively high pulse repetitionfrequency for strobing bits of a digital signal outputted by the encoder248 at a relatively high speed into the register 250. The bits of thedigital signal are than outputted from the register 250 at a relativelylow rate to the modulator 252 in response to strobing of the register250 by the low speed clock signal. This arrangement of the high and lowspeed clocking allows a command to be entered at the keyboard 226rapidly by the host 212, and then to be transmitted relatively slowly asa component of the audio signal. The slow transmission minimizes therequisite width of the score signal passband (FIG. 10). The modulator252 may employ a suitable form of modulation as is commonly employed,such as amplitude modulation or phase modulation, for modulating thedigital signal on the F₂ carrier. The modulated signal outputted by themodulator 252 is then coupled via the filter 254 to the summer 236, thefilter 254 limiting the spectral components of the modulated signal tothe desired passband of FIG. 10. In the same manner, the processor 232digitally encodes signals entered by keys 260 of the keyboard 224, andmodulates the digitally encoded signals of the designated response uponthe F₁ carrier.

The television system 220 comprises a receiver 262, three demodulators264, 266, and 268, a speaker 270, two band-pass filters 272 and 274, andtwo oscillators 276 and 278. Also shown in FIG. 6 is a telephone circuit280 including a telephone at the remote station 206 and a telephone atthe central station 202 which enable interaction in the form of directcommunication between a member of the remote audience 216 and a personat the central station 202. The telephone at the central station 202enables members of the remote audience 216 to communicate, when desired,with the host 212, for instance, to furnish their names for announcingon the air. The telephone circuit 280 is presented as a convenientlyimplemented form of communication system, it being understood that suchcommunication is an optional feature and not essential to the practiceof the invention, and that other forms of communication systems may beemployed.

In operation, the receiver 262 receives the broadcast transmission 222via an antenna 282, and outputs the received signal to the demodulator264. The demodulator 264 operates in a well-known fashion to separatethe audio and video portions of the television signal, the audio portionbeing applied to the speaker 270 and the video portion being presentedon the television screen 208. Members of the remote audience 216 hearthe voice of the host 212 on the speaker 270, and view the progress ofthe game 218 and other activities of the studio 204 on the screen 208.The filters 272 and 274 separate, respectively, the response and scoresignals from the audio spectrum and apply the signals, respectively, tothe demodulator 266 and the demodulator 268. The oscillator 276 providesthe F₁ carrier to the demodulator 266 for demodulation of the responsesignal to recover the designate responses. Similarly the oscillator 278provides the F₂ carrier to the demodulator 268 to enable thedemodulation of the score signal to recover the scoring mode criteria.The response signal is applied by the demodulator 266 to the responseunit 210 via line 346. The score signal is outputted by the demodulator268 to the response unit 210 via line 348.

FIG. 7 shows a modification of the system 200 of FIG. 6 wherein thethird and fourth signals, respectively, for the designated response andscoring mode criteria are transmitted in the video portion of thetelevision signal rather than in the audio portion of the televisionsignal. In FIG. 7, the modified system 200A comprises a central station202A and a television system 220A which contains some of the componentspresented in the system 200 of FIG. 6, and has further components whichprovide for an interlacing of the third and the fourth signals with thetelevision video portion by insertion of the third and the fourthsignals within the time intervals allocated for the television verticalretrace. The system 200A is understood to include, when desired, thetelephone circuit 280, the game 218, and the specimen 214 which havebeen deleted in FIG. 7 to simplify the presentation of the system 200A.

In the central station 202A, the signals outputted by the keyboards 224and 226 are digitally coded by encoders 284 and 286, respectively, andapplied via an OR circuit 288 to a register 290. The station 202Afurther comprises a modulator 292 and a summer 294 which operate withthe combiner 238 and the transmitter 240. The television camera 228includes a well-known vidicon 296, oscillator 298 for production of acarrier frequency, and timing and synchronization circuitry 300.

In operation, the encoded response criteria and scoring mode signals ofthe keyboards 224 and 226 are stored in the register 290 from which theyare applied to an input terminal of the modulator 292. The modulator 292is activated by a pulse signal on line 302 provided by the timingcircuitry 300 during each vertical retrace interval in the generation ofthe television picture frame at the camera 228. The modulator 292receives the encoded keyboard signals and modulates these signals ontothe carrier provided by the oscillator 298, this carrier being the samecarrier employed for carrying the television video signal. Thereby, themodulated keyboard signals outputted by the modulator 292, and thetelevision video signal outputted by the camera 228 are on the samecarrier, and are summed together by the summer 294. The output signal ofthe summer 294 contains both the video and the keyboard signalsinterleaved with each other. The output signal of the summer 294 is thencombined with the signal of the microphone 230 by the combiner 238 andtransmitted via the transmitter 240 to a remote receiving station 206Ain the same fashion as was described for the system 200 of FIG. 6.

The broadcast transmission from the central station 202A is received bythe receiver 262 and applied to the demodulator 264 which separates theaudio and video portions of the broadcast transmission, the audioportion being applied to the speaker 270, and the video portion beingapplied to a television monitor 304 which includes the television screen208. The monitor 304 includes well-known synchronization and timingcircuitry 306 which is employed in converting the broadcast video to apicture presented on the screen 208, the timing circuitry 306 alsoproviding a gate pulse signal on line 308 which is to be used foridentifying the retrace interval so as to enable extraction of thedesignated response signal of the keyboard 224 and the scoring modesignal of the keyboard 226.

The television system 220A further comprises a clock 310, two gates 312and 314, a demodulator 316, a register 318, a switch 320, a flagdetector 322, and two registers 324 and 326.

In operation, the video signal outputted by the demodulator 264 isapplied also via the gate 312 to the demodulator 316 which operates inconjunction with a carrier reference signal provided by an oscillator328 to demodulate the signals of the keyboards 224 and 226. Theoperation of the demodulator 316 is opposite to the operation of themodulator 292 in the sense that, by way of example, if the modulator 292employs phase modulation, then the demodulator 316 demodulates phasemodulation.

The signal on line 308 activates the gate 312 to pass the modulatedkeyboard signals occurring during the retrace intervals, and to blockthe video signal appearing at all times other than during the retraceintervals. If desired, a similar gate (not shown) may be included withinthe monitor 304 for excluding the modulated keyboard signals from themonitor 304. Such signals appearing during the retrace intervals shouldnot interfere with the operation of the monitor 304 because of thesynchronization signals normally present in televised transmissions,which signals gate off the screen 208 during retrace intervals, as iswell known.

The signal on line 308 also activates the gate 314 to conduct clockpulses from the clock 310 to the register 318 during each retraceinterval. The clock pulses are employed to clock the digitally encodedkeyboard signals from the demodulator 316 into the register 318.Included within each of the digitized keyboard signals is a digital flagwhich identifies whether a signal is the designated response signal ofthe keyboard 224 or the scoring mode signal of the keyboard 226. Thekeyboard signals are communicated from the register 318 via a switch 320to the registers 324 and 326. The detector 322 detects the presence ofthe flag on digital signals outputted by the register 318, and operatesthe switch 320 to steer the designated response signals of the keyboard224 to the register 324, and the scoring mode signals of the keyboard226 to the register 326. The registers 324 and 326 provide the keyboardsignals to the response unit 210 for operation of the response unit 210in a manner to be described.

With reference to FIG. 8, the response unit 210 receives the designatedresponse criteria signals and the scoring mode signals, the signalsbeing stored in memory for evaluating answers of the members of theremote audience 216 (FIG. 6) in responding to tasks set forth in thestudio 204. In order to facilitate explanation of the response unit 210,the memory which stores data of the designated response criteria and thescoring mode, is shown as three separate memories, namely, a programmemory 330 which stores instructions for operation of the response unit210, a response-criteria memory 332 which stores a set of data-definingacceptable or designated responses to be used as a reference againstwhich audience response is to be judged, and a further scoring programmemory 334 which stores coefficients or values of difficulty levelsemployed in the scoring of audience responses. A timing unit 336 isemployed for interjecting a scoring factor based on the amount of timerequired or allowed to generate the response, and to apply zero creditin the situation wherein a member of the remote audience fails torespond within a predesignated time interval. The response unit 210includes four decoders 338, 340, 342, and 344 which extract variousportions of the digitized designated response criteria signal andscoring mode signal for application to individual ones of the memories330 and 332, the timing unit 336 and the memory 334. The decoders 338and 340 connect lines 348 and 346, carrying the scoring-mode andresponse-criteria signals, respectively, to the memories 330 and 332.The decoders 342 and 344 connect from line 348, carrying the scoringmode signal, respectively to the timing unit 336 and the memory 334. Thedecoder 344 may be coupled directly to the memory 334, or via an OR gatewhich will be described with reference to FIG. 23. To facilitate thepresent explanation of this embodiment of the invention, it is presumedthat the decoder 344 is connected directly to the memory 334.

Also included within the response unit 210 is a control logic unit 350,a clock 352 which provides clock pulse signals to the control logic unit350 and the timing unit 336 and an OR circuit 354 which couples thedecoder 342 to the timing unit 336. A keyboard 356 and, if desired, adisplay 358 coupled thereto interact with the control logic unit 350 forthe entry of responses, the display 358 showing a member of the remoteaudience what symbols have been typed on the keyboard 356 during thegeneration of a response.

The response unit 210 further comprises a dispenser 360 of cards 362and/or tape 364, or similar recording medium, which are imprinted withmarking reflecting awards, if any, for responses entered by a member ofthe remote audience upon the keyboard 356. For example, the dispenser360 can accept a preprinted form which may be inserted by a respondentand removed from the dispenser 360 after imprinting. Also, the responseunit 210 comprises a buffer store 366, a register 368, a scoring logicunit 370, two comparators 372 and 374, two registers 376 and 378, twomultipliers 380 and 382, a summer 384, an accumulator 386 foraccumulating scores, and an accumulator 387 for accumulating values of asuccession of awards. In operation, the program memory 330 and thecontrol logic unit 350 operate together in a manner similar to that ofthe program memory 108 and the control logic unit 118 of FIG. 4. Theprogram memory 330 stores information as to the number of possibleresponses, the number of questions, and also stores instructions forcommanding the dispenser to print out messages in accordance with scoresbased on responses to questions and other tasks set forth in the studio204. The memory 332 stores possible answers to questions and tasks, suchas colors of objects displayed in the studio 204, sizes of such objects,sentences or phrases describing events in history, science, music, artor literature, listings, names and similar information which may betransmitted via the response criteria signal to the remote stations. Thetiming unit 336 includes counters and memories as will be described withreference to FIG. 9 for outputting appropriate factors or coefficientsfor use in scoring responses based on time of response. The memory 334stores designated time intervals which are to be inputted as presetsignals to the counters of the timing unit 336, and also stores factorsto be applied in the scoring or grading of responses based on level ofdifficulty. Such level of difficulty information is transmitted from thecentral station via the scoring mode signal to the remote stations.After presentation of a task in the studio 204, the host 212 indicatesthe beginning of a time interval for audience response by pressing a keyon the keyboard 226, this resulting in the transmission of a startsignal to the response unit 210. The decoder 342 decodes the startsignal and applies the start signal via the OR circuit 354 to initiatetiming in the timing unit 336, the start signal proceeding through thetiming unit 336 to the control logic unit 350 to initiate operation ofthe logic unit 350. Operation of the three memories 330, 332, and 334 isunder control of the logic unit 350.

In one type of question-response situation, the host 212 gives acontestant a choice of questions to which the contestant is to respond.For example, two or three groups of questions may be presented on thetelevision screen 208. The answers to all of the questions are loadedinto the memory 332. The contestant indicates a selection of a group ofquestions by means of the keyboard 356, a selection signal then beingoutputted by the keyboard 356 to the logic unit 350 to address thememory 332 to provide the desired set of answers for evaluating thecontestant's response.

While various forms of responses may be desired for specific situationswhich may be depicted in the studio 204, two situations of particularinterest are those wherein a response is to be evaluated based on asignificant element of the response such as a series of words, as in aphrase, or by examination of key words present in a phrase or sequenceof sentences to be provided as a response. The response unit 210 isprovided with dual channel comparison to score responses based onobservation of key words or on observation of full text. One of thesechannels is composed of the comparator 372, the register 376, and themultiplier 380. The other of these two channels is composed of thecomparator 374, the register 378, and the multiplier 382. Both of thesecomparator channels operate in the same fashion.

The first comparator channel is employed for evaluating responses basedon the presence of a key word. This is accomplished as follows. A memberof the remote audience presses a key-word logic unit the keyboard 356 toalert the control logic unit 350 that a key word is to be entered. Thekey word is typed on the keyboard 356 which then places the key word inthe buffer store 366 and, preferably, also presents the key word on thedisplay 358 to ensure that the key word is spelled correctly. The bufferstore 366, under control of the logic unit 350, presents the key word toone input terminal of the comparator 372. The memory 332 presents thedesignated key word to the other input terminal of the comparator 372.The comparator 372 compares the designated key word with the response,and outputs a logic-1 signal to the register 376 to indicate a favorablecomparison. If the key word of the response differs from the key word ofthe memory 332, then the comparator 372 outputs a logic-0 signal to theregister 376. The memory 334 outputs a predetermined number of points ofcredit to the register 376 for an at least partially correct oracceptable response. The outputting of the logic-1 signal from thecomparator 372 strobes the register 376 to receive the credit from thememory 334. The number of points of credit are outputted by the register376 to the multiplier 380 to serve as a factor or coefficient incomputing the score for a correct answer. The timing unit 336 outputs afurther factor to the multiplier 380 based on the amount of timeconsumed to produce the response. The multiplier 380 multiplies togetherboth the acceptable-answer coefficient and the time-consumptioncoefficient to output a product to the summer 384, which product is thescore for the response. The amount of credit in the credit factoroutputted by the timing unit 336 is dependent on the amount of time; inthe event that a maximum time interval is exceeded, the timing credit iszero which results in a score of zero being outputted by the multiplier380.

By way of alternative embodiments, it is noted that the multipliers 380and 382 may be replaced with summers, in which case the score would bebased upon the sum of the acceptable-answer coefficient and thetime-consumption coefficient. The actual range of numerical values ofthe score will differ, depending on whether multiplication or additionof the acceptable-answer coefficient and the time-consumptioncoefficient is to be employed in the construction of the response unit210. Either embodiment of the response unit 210 produces a readilyunderstandable score; the embodiment to be employed is simply a matterof preference in desired range of score values.

In the same fashion, the comparator 374 compares a full text, as in aseries of words composing a phrase, which text is compared by thecomparator 374 against the text entered at the keyboard 356 by way ofresponse. The corresponding scoring factors are applied by the memory334 and the timing unit 336, respectively, to the register 378 and themultiplier 382. The comparator 374 strobes the register 378 to apply ascoring factor to the multiplier 382 to apply a scoring factor to themultiplier 382 to the summer 384. A sequence of scores outputted by thesummer 384 in response to a sequence of responses to a task or gamesituation presented in the studio 204 are accumulated by the accumulator386. The output of the accumulator 386 is the total score, which totalscore is inputted both to the dispenser 360 and to the scoring logicunit 370. The accumulator 386 is reset by the control logic unit 350 (atterminal R) in accordance with commands of the scoring mode signal.Thus, the total score outputted by the accumulator 386 may be the resultof response to questions of a single task or of a sequence of tasks asmay be commanded by the program host.

In the scoring logic unit 370, the total score is program memory 330.The scoring logic unit 370 outputs a command signal to the dispenserunit 360 when the respondent's score meets the response criteria or isin a designated range, and the dispenser 360 prints the total score.Also, when the total score is within an acceptable range of score, thelogic unit 370 directs the dispenser 360 to print a monetary award, orother designation of award on either the card 362 or the tape 364, andmay activate a bell to signal success. Sounding of the bell may also beused to direct a respondent to begin the next task. Dispenser 360 may bedesigned for either one or both types of printouts. If desired, the tapeor card may be perforated to allow a portion thereof to be retained by acontestant while the balance would be presented at a redemption centerfor an award. The award and other information, such as time limits forredemption, instructions to the merchant and a coded validation signal,are applied by the memory 330 to the register 368 for inclusion in theprintout of the dispenser 360. By way of example, the validation signalmay be encoded with the time of day and date of the television programand be combined with a number identifying the remote station or user.The identity of the remote station is supplied by an encoder 388 (whichmay a thumbwheel digital encoder) to the register 368 for inclusionwithin the printout of the dispenser 360. The buffer store 366 alsoconnects to the register 368 to permit imprinting at least a portion ofthe actual response in a printout of the dispenser 360. Printers 390 and392 within the dispenser 360 can provide for imprinting in the form ofalphanumeric and symbolic indicia, or by means of bar code or colorcode. By way of example, the printers 390 and 392 may be constructed asdot-matrix printers. If desired, printer 390 may be constructed tooutput the printed message on a magnetic strip (not shown) of the card362.

The keyboard 356 is provided with a "text" key as well as a "word" keyto enable a respondent to answer in the text mode or in the key-wordmode. By the inclusion of alphanumeric keys, as in a standard typewriterkeyboard, a person may respond by entering key words or phrases. Arespondent may answer a question in significantly less time than isallocated for the question, in which case the respondent may wish toindicate task completion before the full allotted time has elapsed, orbefore the host 212 (FIG. 6) tells the audience to proceed to the nextquestion. In this case, the respondent pushes the "next answer" key orbutton on the keyboard 356 resulting in the transmission of a strobesignal along line 394 to an input terminal of the OR circuit 354 torestart the timing unit 336 for the next question and answer. Also, inthe event that there is a choice of questions and responses, each at adifferent level of difficulty, the respondent employs the "difficultylevel" button on the keyboard 356 to signify, via the control logic unit350, to the program memory 334 that an answer of a designated difficultyis being attempted. Thereby, the memory 334 in conjunction with thetiming unit 336 can provide proper scoring factors for variousconditions of response such as accuracy and a shortening of the timeinterval set by the host. Generally, in determining the value of awardto a successful contestant, some or all of the following factors aretaken into consideration, namely, the quality of response as evidencedby accuracy, responsiveness, comprehension and comprehensiveness, aswell as speed of response and difficulty level.

Normally, the difficulty level announced by the host will be "difficultylevel one", with which a certain award is associated. Correspondinglygreater awards may be announced for correct answers at higher difficultylevels. The choice of selecting such higher difficulty level rests withthe contestants and may, where a choice of subject matters is offered,be made after the host has announced the general subject matter or thenature of the next question.

After participating in a number of games or other projects, each ofwhich has resulted in the awarding to the respondent of a prize or awardof significant monetary value, it may be desirable to total the value ofall of the awards for a grand total award. The accumulator 387 providesthis function. The accumulator 387 is connected to the scoring logicunit 370 to receive success ones of the dollar amount of the respectiveawards, or other measure of value of the awards such as a credit towardfree trips by an airplane or days on a cruise. The accumulator 387 sumsthe values of the successive awards and, upon demand from the scoringlogic unit 370, outputs the grand total award via the logic unit 370 tothe dispenser 360 to be imprinted on a hard copy record dispensed by thedispenser 360.

FIG. 9 shows details of the timing unit 336 of FIG. 8, the timing unit336 comprising two counters 396 and 398, and two memories 400 and 402wherein each of the memories 400 and 402 is preferably a read-onlymemory (ROM). The counters 396 and 398 are preset, as noted above, bysignals from the program memory 334 of FIG. 8. The counters 396 and 398count clock pulses supplied by the clock 352. Each of the counters 396and 398 counts down from address, respectively, the memories 400 and402. Output counts of each of the counters 396 and 398 also serve asaddress signals for operating the program memory 330. Counting by thecounters 396 and 398 is initiated upon application of the start signalfrom the OR circuit 354, the start signal being outputted to the controllogic unit 350. Each of the memories 400 and 402 is loaded withappropriate values of credit to be applied to responses, respectively,for key words or numbers and full text. For example, a question answeredby a key word in ten seconds might receive a time credit factor of tenpoints, while a 20-second response time might receive only three points,and any response beyond a half minute might receive a zero pointsresulting in a zero score. It is noted that a count by either of thecounters 396 or 398 from its preset value down to zero automaticallayterminates an allocated predetermined time interval and results in anoutputting of zero score.

The foregoing circuitry allows the response unit to operate, if desired,by presenting a predetermined credit, based on time to respond and onaccuracy of response by way of example, to a contestant at the time whena question is asked. Deductions in score are made for excessive time,incomplete answers or inaccurate answers, by way of example. This isaccomplished by the counters 396 (FIG. 9) which count down withincreasing time to address the memories 400 and 402 to output a timedependent credit. Inaccuracies effect the final score by virtue of theoperation of the comparators 372 and 74 (FIG. 8). An incomplete answer,due to a failure to answer certain parts of a question, results in areduced output from the accumulator 386.

With respect to the system and methodology of the invention,communication with the home audience by the normal television channelsof electronic transmission includes signals broadcast on televisionfrequencies via cable including fiber optics or satellite. A typicalexample in the propagation of such electronic signals would be thattransmission to a communication satellite which, in turn, transmits thesignals to ground receiving sites adapted to send the signals eitherfrom broadcast stations over the air or via cable to cable subscribers.These signals include the first two signals of Group One mentionedhereinabove, namely the program and the task signals, received by thetelevision receivers at each of the remote locations at which atelevision viewer is located. Encouragement of as many viewers aspossible to participate is accomplished by allowing the televisionviewers to become contestants who participate in a quiz program or otheraudience-participation program on the spur of the moment and in themiddle of a program wherein the participants win prizes.

A number of versions of the invention in the operation of a sweepstakessystem will now be described. According to one embodiment, instructionalsignals transmitted to all remote locations include signals which, ifmatching, or bearing a correlation to, symbols on said hard copy record,qualify a participant for a special or sweepstake prize. If, forexample, a coupon having previously provided alphanumeric or othersymbols is issued to a participant who has entered an acceptableresponse, such participant qualifies for a sweepstake prize if the saidsymbols on such coupon are the same or have a correlation, namely, adefined relationship to certain sweepstakes symbols. The symbols on thecoupon may be in the form of preprinted sequential numbers, and thesweepstakes symbols may be transmitted from a central location as partof the instructional signals directing the printer to print thesweepstake symbols. In that event, a successful contestant discernsimmediately whether he or she has qualified for a sweepstakes prize.Alternatively, the sweepstakes symbols are provided to a place wherewinning records are redeemed, such as banks or supermarkets, and aperson presenting a coupon for redemption learns only at this place andpoint in time that he or she has won a special prize or sweepstake.

The term "correlation" refers to a predetermined relationship ofalphanumeric or other symbols provided on hard copy records andidentifying sweepstake awards, whether or not such relationship isexpressed in mathematical terms. Thus, the indicia identifying a winningcoupon and a sweepstake award may be deemed to be correlated if they areidentical or if they meet a predetermined mathematical formula or otherdefinition. The specific correlation entitling a coupon holder to asweepstakes prize may be known or discernible only at a redemptioncenter. In such an instance, a contestant having been issued a winningcoupon will ascertain whether or not a a sweepstake prize has been wononly after presenting a winning coupon at a supermarket or otherredemption center.

Even if the sweepstakes symbols are transmitted to the home of acontestant and are immediately printed on a winning coupon, thefollowing method may be employed to compel such contestant to visit aredemption center, such as a supermarket in order to ascertain whetherhe or she has won a sweepstakes prize. This is achieved by selecting andproviding sweepstakes symbols which are not identical to the symbols ofa winning coupon, but bear a previously identified relationship. As anexample, if a stipulated percentage of a plurality of alphanumericelements on a winning coupon matches the elements of sweepstakessymbols, a sweepstakes prize may be awarded. Such prize can be larger,if a larger number of elements comprising the award symbols is matchedby the sweepstakes symbols.

In another modification of the method, the winning coupon symbols andthe sweepstakes symbols may have no discernible relationship. Anydesired correlation between the sets of symbols may be devised, such asa zero relationship, wherein the two sets of symbols have no commonelements, or a previously defined formula may be employed wherein forexample the symbols are numbers and the sweepstake number is half thewinning coupon number.

Sweepstakes symbols determined at a central location may be providedelectronically or otherwise to redemption centers, together, whenrequired, with a formula for identifying an acceptable correlation withsymbols on a winning coupon, thus identifying such a coupon as onequalifying for sweepstakes prize.

According to the method of the invention, the number of prizes awardedand their values are set by the sponsor of the program, and normally areset so as to optimize the financial return to the sponsor orbroadcaster. Normally, in a quiz program, a plurality of tasks will bepresented. Each task is formulated in such form that the task settingmessage may be electronically transmitted from the central location asthe second signals or second set of signals of the aforementioned GroupOne to be received by the viewers at the remote locations. It is notedthat all of the signals comprising Group One may be transmitted at thesame time, such as by being part of the same pictorial presentation. Asimple illustration of such presentation would involve a celebrityappearing before a television camera, holding a sign reading "Who amI?".

Typically, these tasks comprise questions to be answered by viewers whowish to become contestants. The tasks may differ with respect to fieldsof knowledge, memory skills and reaction speed, literacy, comprehension,expression and experience required, and other aspects. The time allowedviewers to respond to a task may vary. The task may take any form ofquestions including single-answer questions and multiple-part questions.The questions may also call for one or more multiple choice answers.There may be a requirement that, with respect to a specific task, aminimum number of responses must be provided by participants. Thequestions may also be open-ended in the sense that viewers can notcompletely answer a question within an allotted time, a practice commonin aptitude tests. A task could, for instance, involve a listing of alarge number of names or other data in response to a question to whichthe answers are more numerous than can be answered within the prescribedtime. Normally, the host announces the period of time allowed forentering answers at the time a question is posed. At substantially thesame time, the host or other person aiding in the program, may alsoannounce or hint at the general subject area of the next question, thepurpose of such announcement being to enable a contestant to elect ahigher difficulty level to apply to a favored subject area. Thus, theresponse criteria may consist of a simple requirement to be met by arespondent, or may comprise a plurality of independently variableelements.

Questions may also be asked by a host in conjunction with televisionadvertisements or "commercials". In such an event, a host or off-cameraannouncer may first direct the attention of the audience to the factthat the next question will deal with an aspect or feature of theproduct or service about to be displayed or offered. Awards may also beannounced. This type of incentive will significantly increase viewers'attention and recall.

Questions may also be visually posed to the television viewers bydisplaying the questions on electronic boards or on other display means.Alternatively, the host may silently point to an advertised item ofmerchandise to insure that participants are paying attention to thetelevision commercial, in which event a question may relate to suchmerchandise. The awarding of prizes to viewers who correctly answerquestions relating to goods or services shown in a preceding commercialis believed to greatly enhance consumer recall.

It is noted that a question asked with reference to an offered item maycall for no more than a simple mention of the specimen displayed, or ofspecific features thereof. There is little or no difficulty inresponding to such question posed to the viewers, so that in effect, theviewers are simply verifying that they are tuned in to the desiredprogram. This method can be employed when discontinued items, or "lossleaders", are intended to lead customers to a store, in which case morevaluable prizes ar awarded for relatively easy answers.

The range of difficulty levels needs no specific limitation. As anillustration, one may consider the task of listing within a period of 20seconds as many countries as possible that are members of the UnitedNations.

The award or prize won by a successful contestant is computed inaccordance with the response criteria and the scoring basis or modewhich may be formulated by the host or program conductor. As notedabove, the response criteria and the scoring mode or basis aretransmitted from a central station to remote locations through theresponse-criteria and scoring-mode signals of the aforementioned GroupTwo. Specific and different response criteria may be set for eachquestion, and may include a different time period allowed for suchresponse. The instructional group of signals, Group Two, conveys thedata constituting an acceptable answer or range of answers, as well asthe value of the award to be given a successful contestant based on theapplicable difficulty level, the accuracy and completeness of the answerto be provided. The elements of the response criteria may be varied fromquestion to question.

The instructional group of signals, Group Two, may also contain, as asubset, additional command signals such as the above-noted validationsignal to permit certification and verification of an award claimed by acontestant or member of the remote audience. Such data typicallyconsists of alphanumeric information appearing on the contestant'sprintout to facilitate verification, but may also consist of coded dataor symbols which are machine-readable in the place of redemption.

The instructional group of signals may also contain, as another subset,further additional command signals addressed to the scoring circuitry,which additional signals convey data governing the issue of the printoutand its terms, including place of redemption and time limitations. Aprintout from the dispenser 360 may also serve as a voucher to beexchanged for a ticket at a theater or sporting event.

The invention may be employed for conducting a sweepstake with resultsdependent on skill and knowledge of contestants. The printout provides arecord of responses to insure that those who have successfully respondedto an earlier question are properly responding to a later question.Awards for the sweepstake can be based on a selected difficulty level,so that those who are more knowledgeable get higher winnings.

As an example of various forms of programming which may be employed,questions are displayed on an electronic board seen by the televisionviewers. Alternatively, a question appears on a display board in thetelevision studio and a plurality of numbered answers appear on aseparate display so that a television contestant only needs to enter thenumber of the selected answer believed to correspond to an acceptableanswer and to the response criteria. The latter type of visualpresentation is particularly suitable for game shows involving multiplechoice answers. Particularly successful, or otherwise selectedparticipants, may engage in a personal dialogue with the host.

It is noted that members of the studio audience may also participate inthe quiz program. In such event, one display may contain questions forthe home viewing audiences, while the studio contestants may be asked adifferent set of questions. In such a situation, effectively, twoseparate quiz programs are being conducted substantially concurrently.

In conducting such television program, provisions may also be made toannounce and/or display to the television audience information regardingawards that are to be won at different difficulty levels. Thisinformation may be provided before, during, or after the correspondingquestion has been asked, although it normally is made known to viewersat approximately the time that the question is asked. As anillustration, a split television screen technique may be employedwherein part of the screen displays information and/or pictures relatingto the question being asked, and another part of the screen displays atable having tabulated information showing a relationship betweendifficulty levels, and available prizes or discounts from the base pricetowards the purchase of certain merchandise. If desired, a portion ofthe split-screen presentation may be hidden from the studio audience.The host announces the number of difficulty levels and the generalsubject area relative to each question. The host may also announce thebase or minimum difficulty level applicable to a specific question sothat each contestant has sufficient time to elect to respond under theconditions of the difficulty level set by the host or under conditionsof a higher difficulty level. In accordance with the foregoing electedsituations, requisite command signals of the instructional signal group,Group Two, are transmitted for directing the dispenser to print out suchtabulated award data. Successful participants may be informed of thefact that they have won an award via the audio or video portion of thetelevision signal, or by directing the dispenser to print out a messagedescribing the award. The record or other signal by which a contestantis informed of the outcome of his or her response may be simply "award"or "no award" announcement, or a similar simple notification.

As a further feature in the construction of the invention, thescoring-mode signal generated at the keyboard 226 (FIG. 6) for use inthe program memory 330 and scoring logic unit 370 (FIG. 8) may include adelay signal interposed by the host which delays operation of the bellas well as a printing out of notification of award by the dispenser 360until after a determined time interval. This encourages contestants andviewers to continue watching the television program until the program,or a portion thereof, has been completed.

It is also noted that the card 362 with data encrypted by use of barcode or color code or magnetic recording can be machine readable. Thispermits use of the card in an automatic dispenser of merchandise at astore wherein such merchandise is dispensed. The dispensing machinerywould include a well known card reader and verification circuitry whichmay operate with a personal identification number known only to thecontestant to insure that the merchandise is dispensed to the correctperson. It is also noted that the pertinent information can be givenover the telephone to allow for purchases by mail.

Another interaction between members of the remote audience and the hostis accomplished by means of the optional two-way communication affordedby use of the telephone circuit 280 (FIG. 6) in combination with thesignal channels of the television transmission. For example, the host212 may be a professor conducting a home-study course. The host presentsa set of examination questions to home students via the televisionscreen, and transmits various possible responses and scoring criteriavia lines 346 and 348 (FIG. 8) to the response unit 280. Students maycall in via the telephone circuit 280 to inform the host that thequestions relate to material not yet fully covered in the course. Thehost then operates the keyboard 224 (FIG. 6) to reformat or modify thepossible responses, transmitted via line 346, so that the students cangive an acceptable response based on the material already covered in thecourse. In addition, the host operates the keyboard 226 to reformat themode of scoring to provide a different distribution of score points forvarious key words and phrases. Further alteration in the mode of scoringcan accomplished, by the host, by operation of the keyboard 226 to alterthe amount of time allocated to each question. The difficulty levelsstored in the memory 334 may also be altered or reformatted by the hostso as to provide a curving of the score distribution to give extracredit to those students who studied course materials in advance of thepresent curriculum. The foregoing example in the teaching of ahome-study course shows an aspect in the methodology of the invention inwhich a succession of instructional signals relating to designatingacceptable responses and scoring criteria to be applied to responses maybe transmitted from the central station 202 to remote receiving stations206. In a general case, such a succession of instructional signals wouldbe interleaved with communications from persons at the remote stations206 to the central station 202 to enable the response criteria to bemodified to fit the needs of the remote audience. This provides furtherinteraction between the host and the remote audience. Similarinteraction is possible between a person conducting research and membersof a focus group or other sample populations. This type of interactionis helpful in eliciting consumer reactions in qualitative research andother reaction eliciting programs.

As a further example in the modification of scoring criteria, the studioaudience and the remote audience may be engaged in a program for thedevelopment of foreign language skills. The host, in this case alanguage instructor, may submit a set of questions requiring responsesin the form of phrases for describing situations depicted in a studiogame. If members of the studio audience experience difficulty inanswering the questions, then the host would use the keyboards 224 and226 to modify the scoring criteria, before complaints from the remoteaudience arrive via the telephone circuit 280. In this example, asuccession of instructional signals may be transmitted without directinteraction with the remote audience, and with modification of responsecriteria and/or scoring mode being based on response of the studio orexternal audience. In this way, the format of acceptable responses canbe updated at the response units 210 in the remote stations 206 inanticipation of remote audience needs. The response unit 210 stores themodified scoring criteria in the memories 330, 332 and 334, the contentsof these memories being updated with each transmission of aninstructional signal. The operation of the response unit 210 in scoringanswers entered by a contestant to a language development game, or otherform of game, is based on the most recently transmitted instructionalsignal.

By way of further embodiment to the invention, it is noted that the tape364 (FIGS. 6 and 8) outputted by the dispenser 360 of the response unit310 may be imprinted with a bar code, as portrayed in FIG. 6. The barcode may be read by a scanner 404. The reading of the scanner 404 may betransmitted to a receiver 406 at the central station 202 via modems 408and 410 connected to the telephone circuit 280. Further example in thecommunication from a receiving station at a remote location to a centralstation will be described with reference to FIG. 22 wherein informationas to a person's response can be outputted from the response unit 210 asdigital signals and transformed by a modem to a signal format suitablefor transmission via a telephone circuit, such as the circuit 280. Theuse of modems and a telephone circuit serves as an example in thepractice of the invention for communication electronically from a remotereceiving station to a central station, it being understood that otherforms (not shown) of electronic or electro-optical communication may beemployed.

The foregoing examples in the use of the invention show that the systemand methodology of the invention are adaptable to the needs of membersof the remote audience. Adaptation can take place by interaction withmembers of the remote audience, as well as by anticipation of the needsof the remote audience based on observation of responses of the studioaudience. This enhances the quality of audience participation, ensuresbetter success in accomplishing the purposes of the television games,and elicits greater satisfaction on the part of both studio and remoteaudiences.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 6, it is noted by way of alternativeembodiments of the invention that the use of both audio and visualchannels, and the use of both television and radio transmissions permitsvarious transmission arrangements to be employed. For example, insteadof employing one central television transmitter and one central radiotransmitter, as shown in FIG. 1, a network of such transmitters can beemployed for transmitting the program from the studio 14 throughout anentire country. In the case of the transmission of the instructionalsignal by radio, in a network transmission, individual radio stationsmight alter the instructional signals for different scoring criteria andrewards in different geographic areas while all geographic areas wouldreceive the same television program and task-setting messages. By way offurther variation of transmission arrangements, the voice signal of theannouncer at the studio can be be stopped, and replaced by voice signalsat the radio transmitters of the various geographic areas to allowdifferent task-setting messages to be generated audibly at the differentgeographic areas along with the different instructional signals at thevarious geographic areas. These variations of transmission arrangementsprovide a flexibility to the implementation of the invention so as toadapt the task-setting and scoring to needs of local areas.

It is also noted that the invention can be employed even in thesituation wherein television may not be available to some members of theremote audience. With reference to the receiving station 16 of FIG. 1,in the absence of any television transmission (possibly due tomountains) or in the absence of television sets, the host 50 (FIG. 3)would describe audibly and fully the program situation by use of themicrophone 56, and would also present the tasks audibly by themicrophone 56. Thereby, both the audio description and the instructionalsignals would be transmitted by radio channel.

Also, the microphone 56 may be shut off in which case all task-settingmessages would be indicated visually, as by signs and posters, on thetelevision screens of the receiving stations. In this case, the audiochannel would be used only for the instructional signals while theprogram would be conducted silently on the television screens.

Furthermore, the program can be conducted silently, as above, withoccasional audio commentary and/or background music, a television formatcommonly employed by cable television news services. In this case theprogram and task-setting messages would be transmitted by televisionwith visual presentation of the tasks by signs or posters with themicrophone 56 being used only for the occasional comment and playing ofbackground music.

The foregoing situation can be modified further by the substitution ofthe normal television program format by presentation of a televisionscreen showing only lines of alphanumeric characters, similar to that ofa printed portion of a magazine or newspaper. Such a format is usedfrequently in cable television news by broadcasts employing a channelknown as an automated channel. With reference to FIG. 6, the automatedchannel can be implemented, by way of example, by use of a displaysystem including a character generator (not shown) for generating thetext, and a screen (not shown) for presenting the text in front of thecamera 228 to be televised. Or the television signals may be generatedby a suitably programmed computer (not shown). With respect to theimplementation of the invention for broadcast of a quiz program by useof an automated channel, the following observations are noted.

Normally, automated channels are used in cable television to provideinformation in visual alphanumeric or graphic form, utilizing acharacter generator, and transmitting news updates, financial news,program guides, catalog-shopping and price information, weatherinformation and the like. If computer type storage is provided atreceiving stations, text displayed in this manner on screens atreceiving stations may be scrolled in a desired direction. A voice ormusic audio portion accompanies the visual information.

The automated channel type of television broadcast lends itself well tothe presentation of questions and falls within the scope of the presentinvention. A program of the type described, which soon will be availableas HOMEQUIZ, a trademark of Response Reward Systems of Vero Beach, Fla.,and may consist entirely of questions, or the questions may beinterspersed with the types of information listed above. As an example,a question is displayed on the screens at remote locations for theperiod of time allowed for answering the question, after which the dataentering devices do no accept contestants, responses. The correct of aseries of acceptable answers then appear on the screens for an intervalof time enabling contestants to ascertain whether they have won an awardas evidenced by a printout emitted by the dispenser. Alternatively,correct answers may be provided orally by a program conductor. Suchbroadcast requires only very limited studio facilities and is economicalto produce. In this and other types of programs, the electronicequipment at remote locations can be very simple, providing only for"yes" or "no" answers, or can be as complex as is desired.

The type of question and answer broadcast on automated channels lendsitself particularly well to education and research. In the field ofeducation, after a time interval allowed for answering a question hasexpired, a correct answer may be provided orally or visually by theprogram host, and may be accompanied by extensive explanations andnarratives. This method still enables students to mail or deliverexamination papers dispensed to them by the electronic printer in theabove-described dispenser to an educational institution conducting thetest. Such examination forms have printed thereon each student's scoredanswers.

The use of automated channels permits the implementation of the methodsdescribed in a highly economical manner, particularly in the area ofeducation of children. Incentives can be provided to children to take aninterest in subjects to be taught by rewarding successful answers toquestions which dispenses tokens, such as coupons, carrying an award ofinterest to children of the age group addressed. The increasingfamiliarity of children with computer keyboards makes the use of dataentering devices a simple task. In the field of use of research,free-standing questions on automated channels may be interspersed withquestions pertaining to research conducted. Some questions on automatedchannels are phrased so that the answers will provide statistically orotherwise meaningful responses, while other questions contain achallenge inherent in answering such a question. For example, a questionmay require personal judgment, special knowledge, or characterization.

As a further example, a demographic researcher may intersperse betweenquestions regarding respondent's income and expenditures the question"What is the average annual per capita income in your county?". Asuccessful respondent wins an award in order to encourage widerparticipation in such a survey. In market research, the ability to leavea printed text on a cable television screen for a period of time, and toaccompany a question with an oral explanation will not only makerespondent's answers to such questions easier and therefore morereliable, but will make the conducting of surveys or automated channelsa very economical method of reaching unprecedented numbers ofrespondents.

The methods and systems described above may advantageously be employedto attract television viewers to interactive programs, sometimesreferred to as "Videotex" programs, in which prerecorded listings andinformation pertaining to merchandise and services are displayed on theTV-screens of viewers.

Typically, in the operation of such programs, prerecorded listings ofavailable products would be televised and displayed on the TV-screens ofremote viewers. The homes of such viewers would be wired, permittingindividual ones of said viewers, utilizing well-known means forelectronically transmitting signals to a central receiving station, toindicate a category or item of merchandise or services of particularinterest, regarding which a viewer wishes to receive additionalinformation. Such interactive means may transmit viewers request signalsover wires or over the air. The additional information may includepictures of merchandise selected, prices, costs, performancecharacteristics, capacities, capabilities, sizes, colors, accessories,warranties and descriptions. Viewers might also select listings ofproduct groups, similar products within a specified price range,products offered by one company or in one retail outlet, or firmsoffering a specified product within a geographic area. A request formore detailed information may, for example, produce a full page ofspecifications, along with a picture or pictures of one specific item ofmerchandise.

In a typical embodiment of implementing such a method, a manufacturer ofgoods or a supplier of services is given the opportunity to contractwith the producer of an interactive broadcast program for the insertionof questions among the product data and offerings comprising thetelevision program. Such questions can for example be interspersedbetween announcements pertaining to products offered by suppliers. Theknowledge on the part of TV-viewers that meaningful prizes will beawarded for satisfactorily answering questions will result in attractingadditional TV-viewers. Commercials by suppliers of products may beinserted into the listings and questions may relate directly to thecommercial shown, which commercial may be a still photograph, A questionmay follow such a commercial. TV-viewers may be informed prior to thecommercial that a question will follow the next commercial and will dealwith the commercial. This technique will ensure that the televisionaudience will pay close attention to such a commercial, especially if avaluable prize may be won at one of the aforementioned difficultylevels. Thus, the method described can be a potent advertising andpromotional tool in the context of such an interactive program. Prizesawarded TV-viewers may be discounts on the products offered during theshow.

Frequently, in television programs listing items of merchandise andservices available to viewers, sometimes referred to as Videotext,interested viewers who are potential buyers have the opportunity torequest additional or supplemental information over cable connectionssuch as cable or telephone connections used for home computers. Thepurpose of such additional information is to help potential buyers tomake up their minds whether the item is of interest. Additional listingsrequested can be progressively more detailed and can provide informationof interest pertaining to an item of merchandise or services, such asinformation where such merchandise or services may be obtainable,alternatives and competitive items and specifics such as prices, size,colors, capacities, performance, and other related information. It is inthe interest of the producers of such shows which are frequentlysponsored by advertisers, to induce viewers to call up additionalinformation in the form of lists, specification sheets, pictures andother pertinent data. It therefore is an object of the method describedto hold viewers interest and to induce them to request more detailed andspecific information which may lead to a purchase decision. To achievethis, one or more questions are interspersed in successive presentationsof said items of merchandise or services. The method follows and employsthe steps enumerated in connection with the methods hereinbeforedescribed. The question and the response criteria, as well as theultimate answer to such a question are transmitted over the cableconnection used in the television transmission.

In order to further induce participation in such television shows, themethodology of awarding prizes can be based on the required accumulationof credits for acceptable answers, i. e. on the requirement that, inorder to win a prize, a participant must enter an acceptable answer totwo or more questions. In such an instance, if a viewer answers aquestion correctly, the credit for such an acceptable answer is computedand stored at a viewer's remote location. If the producer of the showhas determined that more than one acceptable answer is required to win aprize, viewers are informed, as part of the television program, thateither a certain number of acceptable answers must be entered or that acertain cumulative total of credits must be earned to qualify for aprize. The scoring mode in this instance provide for coefficients incomputing a total score which becomes progressively larger with eachsubsequent question. For instance, a viewer who continues to watch theprogram and ultimately answers three questions in an acceptable fashion,which can only be accomplished having called up at least two additionalpresentations of the offer, may win ten times the amount of the prizethat would have been won for answering only the first of the threequestions correctly.

The system provides for storing and accumulating credits for acceptableanswers until either the end of the program or until either the end ofthe program or until the total number of questions has been reached. Theproducer of the show may announce to the viewers at any stage of theprogram how many questions will be asked and what scoring mode will beemployed in the event more than one question is answered, includingadditional credits earned by answering questions at higher difficultylevels.

By way of further example, a television game show is conducted byanother method providing at a central location the previous describedtransmitting facilities and providing at TV-viewers' remote locationsresponse units, including comparison and scoring circuits withprovisions for allocating credits at different difficulty levels. Aplurality of questions is asked in the course of the show, acceptableanswers being defined by response criteria at a basic difficulty leveland at least one higher difficulty level, at which an acceptable answerearns a larger number of credits. Negative credits are allocated toanswers not meeting the response criteria at a higher difficulty levelelected, even if doing so at a lower level.

The method is further characterized by not instantly awarding prizes foreach accepted answer, but to accumulate credits for all of the acceptedanswers entered by a TV-viewer in the response unit, based on thescoring mode which allocates a predetermined number of credits to eachacceptable answer at the applicable difficulty level. A TV-viewer, bynot specifically electing a higher difficulty level, in effect elects torespond at the basic difficulty level. Individual ones of the TV viewersare informed of credits earned or lost and also are informed of themonetary value of credits. At the end of the question and answer period,a recording device in the response unit provides winners with a recordof total credits, which record may be a printed token, such as a coupon,or may be a magnetized card.

The method provides for penalizing a contestant for not answering or forunacceptably answering a question, irrespective of the difficulty levelby deducting credits determined in accordance with the scoring mode fromthe accumulated credits of such viewer. The response criteria may betransmitted as an unobtrusive portion of the TV-signals, by opticalmeans, over voice channels, or other means. The total number of creditsearned by a viewer and a verification number or code provided on saidrecord in accordance with instructional signals transmitted as fourthsignals, may be phoned in by a contestant and the host announces awinner or winners near the end of the show.

FIGS. 11-18 disclose an alternative system of the invention whereinmaterial generated at the studio of the central station is recorded forlater playback to one or more receiving stations. By way of example, thereceiving stations may be located in hotel rooms or at desks in aclassroom wherein the program deals with educational material. Asfurther examples, the receiving stations may be located at seats in avehicle of public conveyance such as an aircraft, or in an auditorium.The receiving stations may be equipped with television receivers inwhich case the recording may be a video recording in the form of thewidely-used video cassette recording. The sound portion of the programwould be heard by earphones. Alternatively, the receiving stations maybe equipped for audio playback only, as by use of earphones in anaircraft, in which case the program at the studio must be formatted byaudio description of the task so as to adapt the program for audiorecording. In the case of the video recording, the circuitry employed atthe central station and at the receiving station, as disclosed in theforegoing embodiments of the invention, may also be employed in thisembodiment of the invention. In the event that an audio-only recordingis to be utilized, then the equipment of the central station and of thereceiving stations must be modified slightly so as to accommodate thisembodiment of the invention modified for audio-only. In the case of avideo recording, the video signals include synchronization signals whichensure that a playback of the recording is an accurate representation ofthe original program. However, in the case of an audio-only recording,the system of the invention is modified, preferably, to include asynchronization signal to insure accuracy of a playback even if theplayback recorder speed differs somewhat from the recorder speed duringthe recording of the program.

In the ensuing description, FIG. 11 shows the use of a prerecordededition of a program performed in a studio as disclosed above in FIGS.1, 3, 6 or 7. The receiving stations of FIG. 11 are equipped for a videoplayback or an audio-only playback. FIG. 12 shows a system employingequipment, previously described in FIGS. 6 and 8, by way of example, toprovide a video playback to the receiving stations of FIG. 11. In FIGS.13 and 14, there is disclosed an alternate system for providing anaudio-only playback to the receiving stations of FIG. 11, the system ofFIGS. 13 and 14 also employing the equipment previously disclosed inFIGS. 6 and 8, but including further the addition of a fixed-frequencytone, F₃, for use as a synchronization signal and which is located inthe upper end of the audio spectrum along with the frequencies F₁ and F₂previously disclosed in FIG. 10. FIGS. 15, 16 and 19 show a furthermodification of the audio-only system wherein the scoring and responsecriteria signals of FIGS. 6 and 8 are transmitted as unintelligibleburst code signals between intelligible voice signals, rather than bymodulation of the scoring and response criteria signals on set carrierfrequencies as disclosed in FIG. 10. FIGS. 17, 20 and 21 show a furthermodification of the audio-only system wherein voice signals, asynchronization signal, and the storing and response criteria signalsmay be transmitted simultaneously on separate tracks of a recordingmedium. With either the video or audio-only recording and playback, itmay be desirable to employ a central dispenser of hard copy ofrespondents' answers as at a central console disclosed in FIG. 11; asystem for connecting individual response units to the central dispenserbeing disclosed in FIG. 18. The systems of FIG. 11-20 will now bedescribed in further detail.

With reference to FIG. 11. there is shown an aircraft cabin 500 providedwith receiving stations 502 and a central console 504. While numerousreceiving stations 502 may be present in the cabin 500, three suchstations are shown by way of example. FIG. 11 also shows a floor 506 anda vertical partition 508 of the cabin 500. Each receiving station 502comprises a seat 510 supported by legs 512 upon the floor 506. Thepartition 508 separates the console 504 from the stations 502.

The console 504 includes the television system 220 and viewing screen208, described above with reference to FIG. 6, and the dispenser 360described above with reference to FIG. 8. Included with the dispenser360 is electrical circuitry 514 which includes a digital communicationsystem 516 (FIGS. 11 and 18) which connects the dispenser 360 to thereceiving stations 502. The screen 208 permits an aircraft attendant tomonitor the program being played back for passengers sitting in each ofthe receiving stations 502. The program is recorded initially by a videocassette recorder 518 (including a playback capacity), also shown inFIGS. 3 and 6, connected at an input to the television system 28 or thetelevision system 220 for providing video recordings of the programproduced at the central station 12 (FIG. 3) or the central station 202(FIG. 6). If desired, the recorder 518 may be connected to an output ofthe central station 12 or 202. Alternatively, the recorder 518 can beformed in a more simple fashion without the need for demodulation andmodulation circuitry if the recorder is to be connected to the outputterminal of the combiner 70 (FIG. 3) or the combiner 238 (FIG. 6). Withthe alternative form of recorder, playback is accomplished by connectingoutput terminals of the recorder directly to the television station 208and to the speaker 270 in FIG. 6.

In the case of an audio-only recording, an audio recorder 520, whichincludes a playback capacity, would be connected to the output terminalof a summer 236A as will be described with reference to FIG. 13. Eitherthe recorder 518 or the recorder 520 is to be employed with the console504 in FIG. 11, depending on whether a video or audio-only recorder isto be employed. By way of example, the video recorder 518 is shown inFIG. 11 connected by an input cable 502 to an input terminal of thetelevision system 220. Knobs 524 are provided on the console 504 foroperation of the television system 220 and for selection of operatingfunctions of the dispenser 360.

Each receiving station 502 further comprises a television screen 208Awhich is mounted upon the back of a seat 510, or on the partition 508,for viewing by a passenger sitting in a seat 510. The screens 208Afunction in the same fashion as does the screen 208. The mounting of ascreen 208A to the back of a seat 510 may be accomplished by means of aswivel mount 526 which enables the screen 208A to be swung to a stowageposition conveniently located away from a passenger. The screen 208A isemployed only for the video playback, and is not needed for anaudio-only playback. Also included within each receiving station 502 isa dispenser 210A which employs components previously disclosed in thedescription of the response unit 210 of FIG. 6, and may be modified aswill be described hereinafter to facilitate its use in a receivingstation 502. Also provided in each of the receiving stations 502 is aset of earphones 528 by which a passenger listens to the audio portionof the program produced at the central station 12 (FIG. 3) or 202 (FIG.6).

The earphones 528 are connected to the TV system 220, in the case of avideo playback, in the same manner as is the speaker 270 (FIG. 6) or,connected to the TV system 28 (FIG. 3) as is the speaker 86. Thisinterconnection will be described in further detail in FIG. 12. The TVscreens 208A are connected electrically via coaxial cable 530 to the TVsystem 220. Connection of the console 504 to the earphones 528 is madeby an electrical line 532, the line 532 being connected via an armrestof a seat 510 to the corresponding earphone 528. Signals for activatingthe response unit 210A in each of the stations 502 is provided by anelectric line 534 which connects with the console 504, connection of theline 534 being made by way of the armrest of a seat 510 to therespective response unit 210A. Both the earphones 528 and the responseunit 210A are connected via flexible lines 536 and 538, respectively, toan armrest of a seat 510. The line 538 is an electric line, while theline 536 may be either an electric line or an acoustically conductingtube, connected by a transducer of electric to sonic signals in thearmrest, as is frequently employed in passenger aircraft.

The connections of the screens 208A, the earphones 528 and the responseunit 210A to the T.V. system 220 of the console 504 are disclosedfurther in FIG. 12. Therein, it is seen that each of the earphones 528Ais connected in parallel to the speaker 270 so that a passenger can hearin the same fashion as was disclosed for a respondent in the descriptionof FIGS. 3 and 6. Similarly, the screens 208A are connected in parallelwith the screen 208 to enable a passenger to view a televised program inthe same fashion as was described for a respondent with reference toFIGS. 3 and 6.

Each of the response units 210A is connected via the two lines 346 and348 to the TV system 220 in the same fashion as was disclosed forconnection of the response unit 210 to the television system 220. Inthis way, in the viewing of the program, the listening to the host of aprogram, and the entering of responses is accomplished in the cabin 500in the same fashion as was disclosed for respondents at the remotereceiving stations disclosed hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 3 and6. The connection of the video recorder 518, during playback, is thesame as was disclosed with reference to FIGS. 3 and 6 during a recordingmode. FIG. 12 also shows that a response unit 210 may be connected, ifdesired, to the TV system 220 in the console 504 to enable the attendantto practice responses along with passengers who are playing TV games.Alternatively, if desired, the response unit 210 may be deleted from thecentral console 504. It is noted also that the screens 208 and 208A andthe interconnecting cable 530 would not be employed in the case of anaudio-only playback of the program of the central station 202 (FIG. 6).

By way of alternative embodiment, it is noted that recording/playbackapparatus, such as the recorder 518 could be combined with a responseunit 210A in the manner of a small, portable unitary structure to allowa person to play a game or other subject matter privately at a locationof convenience. A similar, but larger, unitary structure is provided, asdiscussed above, in the connection of the response unit 210 to the TVsystem 220 in the console 504 for enabling the attendant to practiceresponses along with passenger who are playing TV games.

In a typical embodiment of the invention, a video tape is employed todisplay a map of the general area over which a plane is flying. Anaccompanying audio message provides questions to passengers wishing toparticipate, the questions pertaining to the geography, topography,demography, history, industry, resorts, sports and any other aspect ofthe region. It is an advantage of this method that the ground does nothave to be visible to passengers, who will see the ground by video-tapepresentation. Such programs can be sponsored by groups interested inpromoting one or another aspect of natural or man-made resources of thearea, such as Chambers of Commerce, historical societies, resorts,airlines, commercial sponsors, tourist offices of states and the like. Aplurality of audio tapes pertaining to the same map, but containingdifferent questions, may be prepared and used alternatively. Othervariations and combinations may be devised.

In the foregoing embodiment, the video or audio tape serves as therecording medium upon which the program, tasks to be performed,appropriate answers against which responses are to be gauged, andscoring criteria are stored. However, in the practice of the invention,it is contemplated that other forms of data storage may become availableto serve as the storage medium, such as optical discs and electroniccircuitry such as a read-only memory.

According to another embodiment, each passenger is given a printedtopographic map, which may or may not be of the region over which aplane flies or through which a mass transportation vehicle is traveling.Audio questions pertaining to the names or any other features not shownon the map have been prepared and stored on alternative tapes. The audioquestions are received through headsets. Travelers responses can bemarked on the maps, which can be evaluated and scored as described inthe context of educational tests. Alternatively, contestants may entertheir answers on a keypad, and the individual answers are evaluated andscored as described hereinabove. The methods described can easily beadapted for use in a variety of public locations, such as hotel rooms,restaurants, game arcades, auditoriums, trains, buses, and airplanes.

With reference to FIGS. 13 and 14, there is shown a modification of thecentral station 202 (FIG. 6) and the interconnection with the responseunit 210 (FIG. 6 and 8) which enable the response unit 210 to operatewith an audio-only recording of the program provided in the studio ofthe central station 202. The single host 212 of FIG. 6 is replaced inFIG. 13 with an announcer 540 and an instructor 542. The announcer 540provides a verbal description of a scene in the studio, such as adescription of the specimen 214 (FIG. 6) by speaking into a microphone230A. This verbal description takes the place of the televised pictureprovided by the camera 228 (FIG. 6). The instructor 542 (FIG. 13)explains the task and instructions for responding to the studiosituation by speaking into a microphone 230B. It may be advisable, inorder to facilitate response by respondents in the aircraft cabin 500(FIG. 11) to employ both male and female voices at the microphones230A-B so that a respondent can more readily distinguish between adescription of the scene and an instructional message. For example, theinstructor 542 may be a male and the announcer 540 may be a female.Electric signals outputted by the microphones 230A-B are combinedtogether in a summing amplifier 544 and applied to an input terminal ofa summer 236A which functions in the same manner as the summer 236 ofFIG. 6. Also included in the system of FIG. 13 are the keyboards 224 and226 of FIG. 6, as well as the signal processors 232 and 234 of FIG. 6.In FIG. 13, an output terminal of the summer 236A connects with an inputterminal of the audio tape recorder 520 for recording the verbalmessages of the announcer 540 and the instructor 542. The tape recorder520, in this embodiment of the invention, may employ a recording mediumhaving only a single recording track.

In the central station 202 of FIG. 6, oscillators 242 and 244 wereemployed to provide reference signals at frequencies F₁ and F₂ foroperation of modulators 252 of the signal processors 232 and 234.Additional oscillators 236 and 278 were employed in the TV system 220(FIG. 6) to provide the corresponding reference signals for demodulationof the response and scoring criteria signal. However, in the audio-onlysystem of FIGS. 13 and 14 wherein the playback speed of the taperecorder 520 may vary during playback from the speed employed duringrecording, it is desirable to synthesize the reference signals at thefrequencies F₁ and F₂ from a single reference signal recorded on therecording medium. Thereby, demodulation is accomplished accuratelyindependently of playback speed. The single reference signal whichserves to synchronize the playback and recording functions is providedby a clock 546 (FIG. 13) and a filter 548. The clock 546 outputs aperiodic train of rectangular clock pulses, which clock pulse train isfiltered by the filter 548 to transform the pulse train into asinusoidal waveform at the pulse repetition frequency of the pulsetrain. This frequency is designated F₃ in the drawing.

The system of FIG. 13 further comprises frequency divider 550, a mixer552, and two filters 554 and 556. The frequency divider 550, which mayinclude a pulse counter (not shown), operates in a well-known fashion tooutput a pulse train at a lower frequency, designated F_(d). The signalsat the frequencies F₃ and F_(d) are applied to input terminals of themixer 552 to output signals at the sum and difference frequencies, thesesignals being captured by the filters 554 and 556 to provide thereference signals at the frequencies F₁ and F₂. The frequency F_(d) isequal to the difference of frequency between the frequency F₃ and eitherof the frequencies F₁ and F₂. The signals at the frequencies F₁ and F₂are applied to the processors 232 and 234 which operate in cooperationwith the keyboards 224 and 226 to output coded modulated signals to thesummer 236A in the same fashion as has been described earlier withreference to FIG. 6. The synchronization signal at frequency F₃ is alsoapplied to an input terminal of the summer 236A. These signals aresummed together along with the signals of the microphones 230A-B toprovide a composite signal which is outputted by the summer 236A andrecorded on a recording medium of the recorder 520.

In FIG. 14, a receiving system 558 interconnects a response unit 210with an output terminal of the audio recorder 520. The receiving system558 of FIG. 14 takes the place of the TV system of FIG. 6 in providingan interconnection between the response unit 210 and a televised signalreceived at either the antenna 282 or from the video recorder 518. InFIG. 14, the receiving system 558 employs the synchronization signal atfrequency F₃ to regenerate the reference signals at frequencies F₁ andF₂ for use by the demodulators 266 and 268. Both the receiving system558 and the TV system 220 include the band-pass filters 272 and 274 andthe demodulators 266 and 268 which function in the same manner in boththe TV system 220 and the receiving system 558. In FIG. 14, thereceiving system 558 further comprises the filters 548, 554, and 556,the frequency divider 550 and the mixer 552, all of which have beendescribed previously with reference to FIG. 13. Also included in thereceiving system 558 is the speaker 270 which has been describedpreviously with reference to the TV system 220 of FIG. 6.

In operation, an output signal of the recorder 520 is appliedsimultaneously to the filter 548, to the filters 272 and 274 and to thespeaker 270. The filter 548 extracts the synchronization signal at thefrequency F₃ from the composite signal outputted by the recorder 520.The filters 272 and 274 extract the spectral bands of the response andscoring criteria signals, respectively for applying the signals to thedemodulators 266 and 268, respectively. An output signal of the filter548 is applied as the synchronization signal for operation of theresponse unit 210, and is also applied to the frequency divider 550 andthe mixer 552. The frequency divider 550 operates to provide the lowerfrequency F_(d) to the mixer 552 which outputs sum and differencefrequencies to the filters 554 and 556 to attain the reference signalsat frequencies F₁ and F₂. By way of example, in the construction of thefrequency divider 550, a division ratio of 40 may be employed such that,by way of example, if the frequency F₃ has a value of 20,000 Hz, thenF_(d) has a value of 500 Hz and the frequencies F₁ and F₂ are separatedby 1,000 Hz. The division ratio of 40 is given only by way of example,it being understood that other ratios may be selected in accordance withdesired spectral bandwidth and separation of the response and scoringcriteria signals. The reference signals at the frequencies F₁ and F₂ areemployed by the demodulators 266 and 268 in the same manner as wasdescribed with reference to FIG. 6 for outputting the response andstoring criteria signals on lines 346 and 348, respectively, to theresponse unit 210. The response unit 210 and the speaker 270 may belocated in the console 504 of the aircraft cabin 500 (FIG. 11) ifdesired for convenience of an aircraft attendant, but need not beprovided in the console 504 insofar as the practice of the invention isrequired. For simplicity, the response unit 210 and the speaker 270 havebeen omitted from the console 504 in FIG. 11. In FIG. 14, output signalsof the receiving system 558 are provided along lines 532 and 534respectively to the earphones 528 and response units 210A at thereceiving stations 502 of the cabin 500. The audio recorder 520 may beprovided with a speed control knob 560 so as to match the playback speedto the recording speed for accurate reception of the voice signals fromthe speaker 270.

During playback of the game program of the aircraft cabin 500, theannouncer 540 provides a detailed description of the scene in thestudio. The instructor 542 asks the questions and sets an interval oftime for response. During the response interval, neither the instructor542 or the announcer 540 are speaking. Thus, there would be the absenceof any sound during the response interval, which situation mightpossibly confuse a respondent as to whether or not his earphones werestill operative. Accordingly, it may be desirable to play softlybackground music from a music source 562, such as a tape recorder, themusic being received by the microphones 230A and 230B for transmissionto the respondents. Either the announcer 540 or the instructor 542 mayoperate the keyboard 224 and 226.

In FIG. 6, a telephone circuit 280, as has been described previously,serves as a means for interaction between a respondent and personnel atthe central station 202. Also, in the case of FIG. 11 with the recordedplayback in the aircraft cabin 500, a form of interaction is possible.Such interaction is attained by a respondent commenting to a flightattendant that the questions are too hard, or that the responseintervals are too short, or that further description of the specimen 214(FIG. 6) is required. The flight attendant then responds by replaying aportion of the recorded program to provide the additional description,or alternatively, advances to another portion of the recording medium toprovide for simpler questions. As a further alternative, the flightattendant may insert another audio tape cassette into the recorder 520to provide a further version of a recorded program in which longerresponse intervals have been provided, or wherein other forms ofquestions have been provided.

FIGS. 15 and 16 show an embodiment of the system wherein encodedresponse and scoring-criteria signals are transmitted as rapid bursts ofsound, which are unintelligible to a respondent. The burst of sound istransmitted between intervals of speaking by the announcer 540 and theinstructor 542. A time sequence demonstrating the transmission of suchresponse and scoring criteria between spoken messages of the announcer540 and the instructor 542 is presented in the timing diagram of FIG.19. The system of FIG. 15 includes the two microphones 230A and 230B,the summing amplifier 544 and the keyboards 224 and 226 which have beendescribed with reference to FIG. 13. Output signals of the keyboard 224and 226 are applied respectively to encoders 248A and 248B whichfunction in the manner described for the encoder 248 of FIG. 6. Theencoders 248A and 248B also incorporate identifying signals for digitalwords to distinguish between response criteria of the keyboard 224 andthe scoring criteria of the keyboard 226. The identifying digital wordsare attained from digital signal sources 564 and 566, respectively.Output signals of the encoders 248A-B are applied to memories 568 and570, respectively.

The system of FIG. 15 also includes the clock 546 and the filter 548which function in the manner previously described with reference to FIG.13. Two read-out circuits 572 and 574 connect between an output terminalof the clock 546 and input terminals respectively of the memories 568and 570. The memories 568 and 570 may be constructed as shift registersor random-access memories. Each of the read-out circuits 572 and 574 isresponsive to clock pulses of the clock 546 for reading out data storein respective ones of the memories 568 and 570 at a rapid rate, forexample, 1200 bytes per second wherein each byte is composed of eightbits in a well-known fashion as is commonly employed by modems in thetransmission of computer signals over telephone lines. Such digitalsignals are clearly audible but unintelligible to a person listening toa telephone line carrying the signals. Answers to questions can be givenin a relatively few seconds, the transmission of which may be divided upamong several bursts each of which is less than one second duration.Similarly, scoring criteria can be transmitted via a relatively fewnumber of short-duration bursts of the coded signals.

The bursts of data transmitted from the memories 568 and 570 are coupledvia a section 576A of a switch 576 to a summer 236B which functions inthe same manner as the summer 236 in FIG. 6. Switch section 576A isoperative to select alternatively output voice signals of the summingamplifier 544, output data of the memory 568 or output data of thememory 570. A second section of the switch 576, namely section 576B, isganged to the section 576A to be operative therewith for activating oneof the readout circuits 572 and 574. Activation of a readout circuit 572or 574 is accomplished by grounding a control terminal of the readoutcircuit by the switch section 576B. The switch 576 is operated either bythe instructor 542 or the announcer 540 when either one of them pausesin speaking. An earphone 528 connected to an output terminal of thesummer 236B enables the instructor 542 or the announcer 540 to hear theburst code sound so as to operate the switch 576 upon completion of adata burst. The synchronization signal outputted by the filter 548 isalso applied to an input terminal of the summer 236B. The output signalof the summer 236B is applied to the audio recorder 520 for a recordingof the audio addition of the program.

FIG. 16 shows interconnection of an output signal of the audio recorder520 with a response unit 210B which is a modification of the unit 210adapted for receiving the response and scoring-criteria signal within acommon spectral portion of the audio band. Also included within thesystem of FIG. 16 are a low-pass filter 578 and a high-pass filter 580.The two filters 578 and 580 separate the relatively high frequencysynchronization signal from the data-burst signal outputted by thememories 568 and 570. The data-burst signal is coupled via the low-passfilter 578 to the response unit 210B. The input circuitry of theresponse unit 210B is similar to that of the response unit 210 of FIG. 8in that four decoders are employed. However, in FIG. 8, the fourdecoders connect with data on two input signal lines 346 and 348 while,in the case of the system of FIG. 16, all of the decoders are coupled toa single input data line 582. In the response unit 210B, the four inputdecoders 338A, 340A, 342A, and 344A operate in the same fashion as thecorresponding decoders 338, 340, 342, and 344 of FIG. 8; however, thedecoders 338A, 340A, 342A, and 344A of FIG. 16 also are responsive tothe identifying words obtained from the digital source 564 and 566,(FIG. 15) to identify signals as being response or scoring-criteriasignals. Data signals outputted by the low-pass filter 578 and thesynchronization signals outputted by the high-pass filter 580 areapplied via line 534 to the response unit 210B in the same fashion ashas been described earlier with respect to the response units 210A ofFIGS. 12 and 14. Audio signals outputted on lie 532 from the recorder520 are applied to the earphones 528 in the same fashion as has beendescribed above in FIGS. 12 and 14.

Synchronization of the response units 210, 210A and 210B areaccomplished, as shown in FIG. 8, by applying synchronization signals toan input terminal of the clock 352. In the absence of thesynchronization signal, the clock 352 is a free-running clock. However,in the presence of the synchronization signal, an output pulse train ofclock pulses of the clock 352 is generated in synchronism with thesynchronization pulse. FIG. 17 shows the use of an audio tape recorder520A having a recording tape medium with a plurality of recording tracksthereon. The stylized representation of the recorder 520A includes fourrecording/playback heads 584 connected respectively to upper terminalsof the summing amplifier 544, the clock 564, the encoder 248A, and theencoder 248B which have been described above with reference to FIG. 15.Each of the heads 584 is located above a corresponding recording track586 in a tape recording medium 588. The medium 588 is rolled upon a roll590 driven by a transport (not shown) for passing the medium 588 beneaththe heads 584. Playback circuitry 592 connects with the heads 584 and tothe transport for operating the recorder 520A to play back recordedsignals.

The signals played back are outputted by the circuitry 592 to theearphones 528 (one of which is shown in FIG. 17), and via lines 346 and348 and the synchronization signal line to the response units 210A (oneof which is shown in FIG. 17). Herein, the response-criteria signal andthe scoring-criteria signal have been recorded on separate tracks so asto be coupled via lines 346 and 348 to the response unit 210A.Similarly, separate tracks are employed for the synchronization signaland the voice signals. The use of the four separate tracks 586 permitsthe voice signals outputted by the amplifier 544, the synchronizationsignal of the clock 564, the response criteria signal outputted by theencoder 248A, and the scoring criteria signal outputted by the encoder248B to be transmitted during time intervals which are independent ofeach other, including a combination of both serial and concurrenttransmissions. This is demonstrated in the timing diagram of FIG. 20 inwhich the synchronization signal at the second trace of the graph isshown to be continuously present while the response and scoring criteriasignals, respectively in the third and fourth traces of the graph,overlap the transmission of the verbal description of the scene and theinstructions.

FIG. 18 shows circuitry of the response unit 210A which permits theresponse unit to communicate via the digital communication system 516.The response unit 510A has the same components as the response unit 210and operates in the same fashion as the response unit 210, except forthe inclusion of the additional circuitry of FIG. 18. The additionalcircuitry of FIG. 18 may also be included within the response unit 210B.Comparison of FIGS. 8 and 18 show that the dispenser 360 receives inputsignals from the register 368, the scoring logic unit 370, and theaccumulator 386. The additional circuitry comprises a memory 594, amodem 596, a decoder 598, and read-out circuitry 600.

In operation, the memory 594 stores the signals of the registers 598,the scoring logic unit 370, and the accumulator 386. The stored signalsare subsequently read out, upon command of the read-out circuitry 600 tothe modem 596 which converts the signals into a form suitable fortransmission via the communication system 516. The modem 596 operates inboth directions, namely, to transmit signals from the memory 594 intothe communication system 516, and to direct command signals from thecommunication system 516 to the decoder 598. By command of thecommunication system 516, the decoder 598 identifies the command asapplying to the response unit 210A at a particular seat 510 of the cabin500 (FIG. 11), and then directs the read-out circuitry 600 to initiate areading out of the stored data from the memory 594 via the modem 596into the communication system 516.

Also included in the circuitry of FIG. 18 is a modem 602 and a bufferstore 604 which comprise a part of the circuitry 514 of the console 504(FIG. 11). Signals traveling from response units 210A of the receivingstations 502 via the communication system 516 are applied to the modem602 which reforms the signal into a form suitable for storage in thestore 604, after which the signals are applied to the dispenser 360 inthe console 504. The buffer store 604 allows the signals received fromremote response units 210A to be stored until the dispenser 360 isavailable for printing hard copy of the results of responses enteredinto the respective response units 210A at the receiving stations 502.Also, the buffer store 604 allows the signals received from the remoteresponse units 210A to be outputted to the dispenser 360 at a ratecommensurate with the operational characteristics of the dispenser 360,which rate may be different from a rate at which signals arecommunicated via the communication system 516.

Thereby, the circuitry 514 including the digital communication system516 enables a common central dispenser 360 at the console 504 to beemployed for printing out a hard copy of the responses produced at thevarious receiving stations 502. By use of the central dispenser 360 atthe console 504, the apparatus of the response unit 210A at each of thereceiving stations 502 may be simplified by deletion of their respectivedispensers 360. The deletion of the dispensers 360 from the individualreceiving stations 502 simplifies the complexity and physical size ofeach response unit 210A, and may also reduce the cost of theinstallation, particularly in aircraft having many receiving stations502.

A further advantage of the embodiments of the invention employing aprerecorded program is that various versions and formats of the programmay be recorded. Thus, a recording with difficult-to-answer questionsand a recording with easy-to-answer questions can be prepared. Questionsinvolving a prior knowledge of history, economics, sports or othersubject matter can be prepared on the same or separate records. Thereby,the flight attendant has the capacity, in essence, to reformat questionsand instructions, as well as the subject matter being described, inresponse to preferences stated by respondents at the receiving stations.The reformatting of the program, instructional signals, and/or responseand storing criteria are accomplished simply by fast-forwarding therecording tape to a further position, or by replacing the recording tapewith another tape. The system of the invention may be installed inschools and hotels, as well as in homes.

An aspect of the invention combines the eliciting of an answer with theeliciting of a prediction. An example would be a sports event which hastaken place a relatively long time prior to such a broadcast, say theU.S. Open Golf Championship held 10 years prior to the broadcast. A filmof the tournament is shown and the prediction/response solicitedpertains to the number of strokes taken by the eventual winner of theChampionship on the third, par three hole, by way of example. Thismethod permits a person with a good memory to recall the outcome of thisevent, i.e. responding to a question, the answer to which is known. Butat the same time, the method permits a person not having observed theChampionship, but having a knowledge of the game and the players, tomake an educated guess or prediction.

FIG. 21 shows an audio recorder 520B which is an alternative embodimentto the recorder 520A on FIG. 17. The recorder 520B includes a recordingmedium 588A having five tracks 586 as distinguished from the four tracks586 on the medium 588 in FIG. 17. FIG. 21 has many of the componentspresent in FIG. 17, namely, the two microphones 230A and 230B, the clock564, the keyboards 224 and 226, the encoders 248A and 248B, theearphones 528 and the response unit 210A. In FIG. 21, a set of fiveheads 584 are employed for recording electric signals on the five tracks586. A second set of heads 584 are provided for playback of the signalsrecorded on the track 586. The same or a different set of the heads 584may be employed for recording and playback as may be convenient in theconstruction of the audio recorder 520B. The two microphones 230A and230B are connected by amplifiers 606 and 608 to the respective heads 584for recording signals of the microphones 230A-B. Another two amplifiers610 and 612 are connected to the corresponding playback 584 for couplingrecorded signals of the microphones 230A and 230B, respectively, via aswitch 614 to an earphone 528. Also provided is a summing amplifier 616which sums together the signals of the microphones 230A-B, as outputtedfrom the recorder 520B, and applies the sum signal via the switch 614 tothe earphone 528.

The switch 614 provides a respondent at the receiving station 502 withthe option of listening to either the description of the scene asprovided by the announcer 540 (FIG. 13) at the microphone 230A, or theinstructions for responding to the task as set forth by the instructor542 at the microphone 230B, or to a composite of the two speeches of theannouncer 540 and the instructor 542. The embodiment of FIG. 21 allowsstatements by the announcer and the instructor to be made independentlyof each other such that these statements may be made serially orconcurrently. In addition, the respondent has the option of listening toeither one of these statements independently. It should be noted also,that while FIG. 11 demonstrates the use of only a single recorder forall of the respondents, in the case of the audio recorder, it ispossible to provide a separate audio recorder for each respondentwhereby each respondent can play back those portions of the recordingrequiring further attention. In such case, connection will be providedas shown in FIG. 21 wherein each recorder is outputted to a singleearphone and a single response unit rather than to a set of earphonesconnected in parallel and a set of response units connected in parallel.

FIG. 22 shows a further embodiment of the invention employing recordingapparatus, such as the recorder 520 of FIGS. 13-15, for prerecordedtasks and instructional signals. This embodiment employs a call-upsystem 618 wherein a person, or contestant, wishing to play a game orinvolved with an educational experience, by way of example, simplyemploys a telephone 620, preferably a push-button telephone, to call anumber, such as a so-called "900" number employed by telephone companiesin the United States (public telephone service wherein the caller isautomatically billed for the call plus other charges relating to thenature of the service being provided by the called party for thecaller). After connection is made via a private switchboard 622, thecontestant activates buttons 624 on the telephone to start the taperecorder 520, stop, rewind and fast forward the tape recorder 520. Alsoincluded within the system 618 is the receiving system 558 previouslydescribed with reference to FIG. 14, and the response unit 210 of FIG.8. Outputted signals from the tape recorder 520 are received by thesystem 558 and applied to the response unit 210.

The recording is based on the system described in FIGS. 13 and 14wherein all control signals (instructional signals) for the responseunit 210 are transmitted in the upper spectral portion of the audioband, this being above the spectrum of the tone signals generated by thetelephone. Therefore, both types of signals, the tone and theinstructional signals, can coexist at the same time without interferingwith each other. Each channel of the switchboard 622 includes, inaddition to the recorder 520, a decoder 626, a low pass filter 628, amodem 630 and a receiver 632. In each channel, the low-pass filter 628protects the decoder 626 from the instructional signals, and allows onlythe tone signals to reach the decoder 626. The decoder 626 translatesthe tone signals into digital command signals to activate the recorder520 for responding to commands from the telephone push buttons 624 in amanner similar to the operation of an automatic telephone messagerecorder.

A private home or other location of a contestant may serve as a remotestation which includes a telephone 620, a response unit 210, and areceiving system 558 as described above. Also included is a modem 634for connecting the response unit 210 to a telephone line 636 whichinterconnects the telephone 620, as well as the modem 634 to theswitchboard 622.

The system 618 of FIG. 22 operates in a manner analogous to theoperation of the airborne system of FIG. 11 except for the primarydifference that, instead of relying on the aid of a flight attendant toset up and activate the equipment, the system 618 of FIG. 22 allows acaller who wishes to be a contestant to activate a playback of taperecorder/playback apparatus by simply placing a telephone call.Thereupon, the caller hears the task setting message, and may operatebuttons on the telephone to replay any portion of the message which hemay have not thoroughly understood. Once a question has been asked alongwith the transmission of a timing signal to the response unit 210indicating the start of a response interval, any delay on the part ofthe caller, such as a replaying of the question, will elicit a loggingin of a longer time for the caller's response by the response unit 210with a consequent diminution in a score to be awarded for the response.

If desired, the system 618 may be operated in conjunction with a centralstation, such as the central station 202 with studio 204 of FIG. 6. Thestudio 204 is connected electrically by a message line 638 and a controlline 640 to the switchboard 622 to enable the host 212 to communicate bythe telephone lines 636 with the response units 210 of the contestants.The host 212 also communicates by the television transmission 222between antennas 246 and 282 to present a situation, occurring in thestudio 204, upon a television screen 208 at each remote receivingstation 206B of the respective callers. The central station 202 providesadditional flexibility to the operation of the system 618. For example,the host 212 can provide additional information which supplements adescription of subject matter provided by the prerecorded message in thetape recorders 520. The additional information may be in the form of avideo presentation on the TV screen 208 plus a narrative description.

Further options in the operation are as follows. In the absence of thetelevision transmission 222, the host 212 can speak directly on each ofthe telephone lines 636 to provide a supplemental verbal description tothe telephone 620 of each caller. This is accomplished by sending acontrol signal from the central station along the line 640 to direct theswitchboard 622 to connect the telephone lines 636 to the message line638. The voice of the host then is carried via the message line 638 tothe switchboard 622 which connects the voice to the telephone lines 636.

Also, by use of the control line 640 and the switch board 622, the hostcan send a synchronization tone signal to synchronize the tape recorders520 to simultaneously activate the response units 210 of the variouscallers. For the foregoing purposes, the central station 202 (FIG. 22)comprises an additional keyboard 642 and a tone encoder 644 connectedthereto, as well as a microphone 646. The control signals are generatedby pressing a specific key or keys of the keyboard 642 to activate thedesired function, the keys generating command signals which areconverted by the encoder into tone signals which are recognized by theswitchboard 622 and the decoders 626 to provide a desired switchingfunction and a desired function of the recorders 520. The microphone 646is connected to the message line 638 so that the host 212 in the studio204 of the central station 202 can employ the microphone 646 to speak tothe callers. Also, by means of the switchboard 622 a host at the centralstation 202 can access the recorders 520 to preset them to a specificportion of the recording tape, thereby to regulate the presentation oftasks via the system 618 to a desired level of difficulty. Thus, controlof selected portions of the recording tape can be provided alternativelyby respondents at receiving stations or by the host at the centralstation.

The modems 634 are connected to the register 368 and the accumulator 386(FIGS. 8 and 22) in respective ones of the response units 210 fortransmitting data of the responses and the scoring of the respectivecontestants to the respective receivers 632. Each modem 634 converts thedigital signals of the register 368 and the accumulator 386 to tonesignals which can be carried by the telephone lines 636 and theswitchboard 622, the tone signals being converted back to the digitalformat by respective ones of the modems 630 to be received by thereceivers 632. As noted in block 388 of FIG. 8, identification of theremote station is included within the data outputted by the responseunits 210, so that the set of receivers 632 can correlate a score with aspecific remote station. Thereby, the host 212, or other persons incharge of the quiz show or operation of the prerecorded programs, can beprovided with response data which may be used in modifying the questionsto be presented at a future time, for announcing winners of a quiz show,for dispensing prizes to winning contestants, and for other suchpurposes.

If desired, the conducting of the quiz or game show, or other type show,can be accomplished as has been described with reference to FIG. 6, withthe switchboard 622 of the system 618 of FIG. 22 being employed only forthe recording of test scores or other results communicated by the modems634 and 630.

One interesting aspect of the foregoing embodiment of the inventionbecomes apparent in a game show wherein remote contestants, namely, thecontestants at the remote receiving stations, participate with thestudio contestants in a game to win prizes, the prizes being awarded toboth the studio and the remote contestants. As a simple example,consider roulette being played in the studio and observed via televisionat the remote stations. With reference to FIG. 22, contestants from theremote stations call in to the switchboard before the game starts, andestablish a telephonic connection. After the wheel begins spinning, eachcaller employs the keyboard in his or her response unit to enternumbers, colors or other predictions of the type made by a player at theside of the roulette wheel. A timing signal transmitted to each responseunit terminates the interval during which responses may be entered, theinterval being terminated before the wheel stops. The criteria forjudging the outcome of the prediction, namely the correct response, isthen transmitted to each response unit by the instructional signal toenable the response units to compute the scores. The scores are thentransmitted via the modems and the telephone circuits to the centralstation so that winners can be announced to both the studio and theremote contestants. In this way, other games such as chess wherein thenext move is to be predicted, or black jack wherein a card is to beselected, can be played by both the studio and the remote contestants.The remote contestants can be located in rooms of a hotel which housesthe studio, within a nearby town, at great distance, or all of theforegoing locations.

In the description of embodiments of the invention disclosed in FIGS. 3,6 and 7, apparatus has been presented for transmitting the instructionalsignal, by way of example, within the spectrum of a voice channel, andwithin the vertical blanking interval between frames in the videoportion of a television transmission. Yet another form of transmissionof the instructional signal which may be useful in the practice of theinvention may be employed, this transmission being partially optical andbeing included within the video portion of the television transmission.

FIG. 23 shows the optical transmission of the instructional signal. Thisalternative mode of transmission of the instructional signal can be usedinstead of, or to supplement, The modes previously described, ifdesired. FIG. 3 shows installation of this optional mode of transmissionof the instructional signal. In FIG. 3, an entry unit 648, to bedescribed in detail in FIG. 23, provides the host 50 an additionalfacility for entry of an instructional signal. The entry unit 648outputs a signal in the form of a television video signal which is to becombined with the video signal outputted by the camera 54. The combiningof the two video signals is accomplished by a video mixing unit 650which operates in the well known manner, frequently employed in sportingevents, whereby two video images provided by two separate cameras, suchas a view of a tennis player preparing to serve and a receiver preparingto return the ball, are presented side by side on a television screen.

The entry unit 648 provides for the encoding of the instructional signalin the format of a sequence of colored spots which appear on thetelevision screen 20 along with the picture provided by the camera 54.The colored spots are located at the side of the screen 20 so as toavoid interference with a viewing of the picture provided by the camera54. In the TV system 28, an optical detector assembly 652 is positionedalongside of the screen 20 to read and decode the colored spots, and tooutput the instructional signal in the format of an electrical signalsuitable for use by the response unit 22 or 210.

FIG. 23 shows details in the construction of the entry unit 648 and thedetector assembly 652, and shows in simplified fashion theinterconnection of these two elements via a communication link 654 whichrepresents the system connection of FIG. 3. The TV system 28 of FIG. 3has been simplified in FIG. 23 which shows only the television screen 20and the components of the detector assembly 652. The entry unit 648comprises a keyboard 656, an encoder 658 which may be fabricated of aread-only memory (ROM), a register 660, a clock 662, a matrix 664 oflight-emitting diodes (LED's), and a television camera 666. The LEDmatrix 664 comprises three clusters 668 of light-emitting diodes 670.There are three diodes 670 in each cluster 668, one of the diodes beingred (R), a second of the diodes being green (G), and a third of thediodes being blue (B).

In the TV system 28, the screen 20 shows three of the colored spots,identified by the numeral 672, and located at a side region 674 of thescreen 20. The three spots are identified further by the legends 672A-Cto facilitate identification of specific ones of the spots 672.Similarly, the clusters are identified further by the legends 668A-C tofacilitate identification of specific ones of the clusters 668. Thethree spots 672A-C correspond to the three clusters 668A-C,respectively, and are produced by action of the camera 666 inphotographing the three clusters 668A-C. The three clusters 668 areprovided by way of example, it being understood that another number ofclusters, such as two or four clusters by way of example, may beemployed with an equal number of spots 672 being produced on thetelevision screen 20.

The optical detector assembly 652 which is positioned alongside of thescreen 20 to read the colored spots comprises three detectors 676, eachof which is provided with a red section (R), a green section (G) and ablue section (B) for detecting the the corresponding colors transmittedby the red, green and blue diodes 670 of a cluster 668 to the camera666. Each of the detectors 676 is coupled optically by a lens 678 to oneof the spots 672 for focussing emitted by the spot upon the detector.The detector assembly 652 includes a set of three register circuits 680coupled to respective ones of the detectors 676. Each of the registercircuits 680 comprises a register 682 and an AND gate 684 connected to aterminal of the register 682 for strobing the register 682 to readsignals outputted to the register 682 by the corresponding detector 676.Each of the detectors 676 outputs signals on three separate channelscorresponding to the red, the green and the blue colors emitted from aspot 672. The detector assembly 652 further comprises a address register686, a decoder 688 which may be fabricated of a read-only memory, and anoptional display 690.

In operation, and with reference to FIGS. 3 and 23, the host 50 has thecapability to send an instructional signal or signals by the alternativeroute of the video channel, plus the optical link at the interfacebetween the screen 20 and the detector assembly 652. This alternateroute is implemented as follows. At the entry unit 648, the host entersan instruction via the keyboard 656. The keyboard 656 outputs an addressto the memory of the encoder 658 which responds by outputting a code tothe register 660. The code may represent a letter of a word, a number,or any one of a plurality of special terms applicable to a task orprediction provided by the studio 14 (FIG. 1), such as the terms"fairway", "bunker", "rough" and "green" as applicable to golf, or"check", "castle" or "capture" in a game of chess. The register 660 isconnected to the LED matrix 664 by nine lines 692 which activaterespective ones of the diodes 670. Each word of the code has nineelements which are stored in the register 660, the nine code elementsbeing applied respective ones of the lines 692 to activate respectiveones of the diodes 670.

In the use of the code, there are six choices of colors or combinationsof colors in a cluster 668. The choices are red, green, blue, red andgreen, red and blue, and green and blue. The combination of all threecolors which produces white is reserved for use as a strobe signal foractivating the registers 682 in respective ones of the register circuits680. The six choices per cluster 668 provide a total of 216 color codedwords for the matrix 664. Any one of the color coded words may beaccessed by use of the keyboard 656. The color coded words arephotographed by the camera 666 and then are presented by the screen 20to the detector assembly 652 for detection of the cluster colors byindividual ones of the detectors 676. Each of the detectors 676 outputdetected colors via a set of three lines to its register 682.

As shown in a graph 694 appended to the encoder 658, the colored wordsare interspersed among white words. The white words are providedautomatically by the encoder 658 after each color word. At each of theregister circuits 680, the presence of all three colors in a white wordactivates the AND gate 684 to strobe the register 682. Thereby, therespective registers 682 are strobed to output their respective colorsignals to the register 686 to provide the register 686 with a completedetected code word. The code word in the register 686 is applied as anaddress for the memory of the decoder 688 to output the alphanumericsymbol or word which was intended by the host 50 to be transmitted aspart, or all, of the instructional signal. The alphanumeric symbol orword is presented on the display 690 to be seen by a contestant at aremote receiving station 18. The alphanumeric symbol or word ispresented also to the response unit 22 (FIG. 4) via line 696 or to theresponse unit 210 (FIG. 8).

The white and colored code words of the graph 694, are depicted as pulsesignals having a predetermined duration. The duration be selected as amatter of convenience. However, it is noted that the camera 666 includesa vidicon which scans the clusters 668 with a sequence of scan lines(horizontal rows with reference to the screen 20) which extend in thedirection from the cluster 668A to the cluster 668B. In accordance withnormal television practice, there is an interlacing of pairs of scans toproduce image frames at a rate of thirty frames per second. The clusters668 have a width equal to at least a few line scans so that, within aninterval of one sixtieth of a second, a few scans have been made of allthe clusters 668 to provide adequate opportunity for the detectors 676to detect the presence of a color. The region 674 extends beyond thespots 672 to provide a dark apron to prevent extraneous light from thescreen 20 from entering the lenses 678 to impinge upon the detectors676. The pulse duration for the light signals outputted by the clusterdiodes 670 may be one sixtieth of a second for maximum data rate, andmay be longer if desired. It is possible to have a still higher datarate by allowing only one scan line for each pulse, but it may bedesirable to use a slower data rate for better signal to noise ratio.

In the response unit 22 of FIG. 4 the instructional signals of thedecoder 100 and the detector assembly 652 are applied via an OR gate 698to the memory 108. The OR gate 698 allows the instructional signals tobe applied alternatively or in supplementary fashion to operate thememory 108 in the manner described previously with reference to signalsoutputted by the decoder 100. In a similar fashion, the signals from thedetector assembly 652 an be applied (not shown) also to the memory 106if desired.

In the response unit 210 of FIG. 8 the instructional signals of thedecoder 344 and the detector assembly 652 are applied via an OR gate 700to the memory 334. The memory 334 has been selected by way of example,it being understood that the signals of the detector assembly 652 can beapplied, if desired, to another of the memories of the response unit210. The OR gate 700 allows the instructional signals to be appliedalternatively or in supplementary fashion to operate the memory 108 inthe manner described previously with reference to signals outputted bythe decoder 344.

The display 690 (FIG. 23) is useful for a contestant in that it allowsthe contestant to have information, in addition to that presented on thescreen 20, which may be significant for determining the contestant'sresponse. For example, there may be an increase in the amount of scoringpoints to be awarded for a task of higher difficulty level which wouldencourage the contestant to take a chance and select the higherdifficulty level.

With reference again to FIG. 22, it is noted that utilization of thetelephone system therein for carrying out the invention can beaccomplished in an advantageous manner by employing the telephone systemto collect and dispense funds for participants in games, wagers,contests, and other projects by the simple expedient of crediting ordebiting the accounts of telephone subscribers who participate in thepractice of the invention. This permits virtually instantaneous paymentof an entry fee to a game, or a bet on the outcome of an event, by wayof example, and dispensing of an award in the form of a token or cardhaving a monetary value or by crediting a player's telephone accountwith cash. The use of the telephone system for this purposes will bedescribed now with reference to FIG. 24.

FIG. 24 presents a diagram useful in explaining the use of the system ofFIG. 22 for transference of funds in the practice of the invention. Acentral telephone facility 702 connects via a communication link 704with a telephone subscriber's station 706 (typically the subscriber'shome) and to the subscriber bank 708 or other financial institution, byway of example. Via line 710, the subscriber can authorize the centralfacility 702 to charge the subscriber's account at the bank 708. Aresponse unit 210 (shown in FIGS. 6 and 8) is located at the subscriberstation 706. A central broadcast and monitoring facility 712 provides abroadcast presentation 714 with a broadcast signal transmitted to thesubscriber station 706 to be observed by the subscriber. The subscriberresponds to the broadcast transmission by entering a response in theresponse unit 210. Outcome criteria signals are transmitted via line 716directly to the response unit 210. A coded signal transmitted via line636 (described in FIG. 22) from the central telephone facility 702 canbe employed to activate the response unit 210.

The response unit 210, in terms of the presentation of FIG. 24, may beregarded as a subscriber subsystem providing functions describedhereinabove. These functions are the decision entry provided by thesubscriber-contestant upon use of the keyboard of the response unit,comparing of the entered response with the criteria sent by line 716from the facility 712, the generation of a hard copy card which servesas a token describing the amount of the award and presenting otherinformation needed for claiming a prize, and the dispensing of the tokenby the response unit 210.

A number of methods in accordance with aspects of the invention will nowbe described, the methods utilizing the electronic circuitry describedherein. It is noted that the systems of the various aspects of theinvention can be used to conduct contests, such as quiz shows whereinthe answers to questions are known at the time the questions are asked.The systems however, also lend themselves to conducting games, contestsor tasks involving predictions of the outcome of future events,including games of chance. While the methods for conducting suchprograms on radio or television programs vary, they all have theimportant common capability of informing members of the remote audiencewithout delay whether the responses, predictions or gambles have metwith success. The success may be defined as an acceptable response to atask or question, an acceptable prediction or the outcome of an event,or the winning of an award in a game of chance. When desired, eachsuccessful member of the audience may be issued a token or an award orprize virtually instantly after the success becomes known. The token mayinclude a monetary prize. Its is noted that all of the methods describedutilize electronic equipment at the locations of the viewer or listenerto evaluate responses, and to award successful participants. The systemdoes not require central computers, thereby obviating the need forsimultaneously processing large numbers of viewer responses at a centrallocation.

Many events, including games, can be implemented by the methodology ofthe invention. Such events take place on large and small defined areasranging for instance from an 18-hole golf course to a football field andbaseball diamond, and to a chess board. All of these areas have thecharacteristic in common of being able to be subdivided so as toidentify portions thereof or locations thereon. Locations can beidentified with the aid of grids with coordinates or other identifyingplan to implement the methodology of aspects of the invention.

Frequently, in the course of a game, an object is moved by a person, anda prediction may be made as to the location to which the object moves.In some sports events the object moved is the body of the athletehimself. A TV-viewer follows the progress of such a game or contest andenters a prediction of an outcome on an entering device by identifyingthe area or point at which the object is anticipated to come to rest, oris to be placed by a person addressing the object. Such an observernormally can follow the unfolding of the event on a TV-screen. Followingthe event, such as in a football game, a track and field event, or amove by a chess player, the producers of the TV-show identify the actuallocation to which the object has moved. Coordinates of the location orother identification signals are transmitted to remote sites of the TVviewers, so as to permit comparing the actual location with thepredicted location entered by television observers. Response criteriafor evaluating the outcome of the predictions are similar to thepreviously described criteria of the instructional signals.

The prediction entering device prevents entries at or after the point intime when the object being addressed, moves, or when a participant, suchas an athlete, commences action. The comparison and scoring circuits ofthe aforementioned entering and evaluating devices at remote locationsidentify and score acceptable predictions as defined by theinstructional signals. A successful participant is informed, whendesired by a dispensing of printed coupons or magnetized cards, aspreviously described, immediately following the relevant event or moveof an object.

In televising such an event, the producers superimpose a grid orcoordinates on the television picture for the purpose of enablingobservers to identify areas or points broadly or with as muchspecificity as is desired or practical under the circumstances. Such agrid is helpful in making predictions and in identifying outcomelocations. A grid may be subdivided into portions of differentdimensions.

It is advantageous that the above-described predictive method can beapplied to a large variety of events and games in which an object ismoved once or repeatedly, such games including, by way of example,baseball, football, golf, and chess. Depending on the size andconfiguration of the playing area, the area may be sub-divided intolarger and smaller portions. A prediction of a smaller portion of thearea to which an object may move, and therefore a more difficultprediction, is rewarded with a prize of greater value than a predictionpertaining to a larger portion. For example, a prediction in a golfmatch may pertain to the location of a hit ball on large areas, such asa fairway or rough, or on smaller areas, such as on the green, or evenin the cup. Predictions may relate to the ultimate outcome of two ormore intermittent events, such as the location of a golf ball afterthree strokes, the position of a chess piece after two moves, or thetotal number of hits of a baseball player at the end of five innings. Toprovide for such cumulative outcome predictions, data storage means aspreviously described, are included in an observer's evaluating device.

Events included in a broadcast contest to which predictions relate maybe presented visually or audibly. In an aspect of the practice of theinvention, a host or commentator asks for one or more predictions and ifa plurality of predictions is available, a TV-viewer selects aprediction. If there exist two or more predictions, outcome criteria areprovided for evaluating the response of an observer or contestant to allrelevant outcomes, the outcome criteria being conveyed to remotelocations after an announced event, or events, has occurred. In anotherembodiment, outcome criteria are conveyed relative to outcomes of eventsnot specifically made known or announced by a host, such as the finalorder in which horses cross the finish line at the end of a race. Thisenables a TV-viewer to elect to predict an outcome not previouslymentioned in the transmission from a central station, in the hope thatoutcome criteria relative to the prediction will nevertheless beconveyed and that a correct prediction of such unannounced event will berewarded with a prize.

In case a participating TV viewer elects to predict the outcome of anevent not specifically identified or announced by the host, theparticipant runs the risk that there will be no transmission of outcomecriteria signals pertaining to that participant's prediction, thusruling out all chances of winning a prize. It therefore is the twofoldtask of a TV-viewer in such a situation to anticipate which unannouncedevent hopefully will be provided with outcome criteria, and that theparticipant will correctly or acceptably predict the outcome. Awards forsuch successful predictions will be correspondingly higher.

In view of the fact that in the above described example the outcomecriteria are conveyed to remote locations following the event to whichthe criteria relate, the success or outcome criteria may be transmittedin uncoded and visually or audibly intelligible form. When conveyed, insuch open language, the response criteria can serve to inform members ofthe remote audience of the event which was selected for inclusion in thecontest and to advise the members of the outcome of the event.

A further use of the invention in conjunction with telephone facilities,as disclosed in FIG. 22, will now be described. Dedicated telephonelines such as the so called "900" numbers in the United States, orso-called PIN (person identification number) or ANI (automatic numberidentification) lines, are used with increasing frequency to request andobtain special services. These services include a wide range ofinformation and data which the telephone systems are capable ofproviding, the systems being adapted to automatically playback specificrecordings or to provide answers to specific inquiries.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a tape playing facilityis provided at a central telephone station as a subscriber service.Tapes with prerecorded audio or audiovisual recordings are played backto receivers at remote locations over cable or over dedicated telephonelines, using modems when required.

In a preferred embodiment, a question and answer game is conducted, anda user of or subscriber to the telephone service who answers a questionin an acceptable manner receives an award as heretofore described. Toconduct such a game, the contents of a tape are formulated and recorded,including one or more sets of messages. Each prerecorded message setcomprises a question and an instructional signal conveying answercriteria defining at least one correct or acceptable answer.

The question is received in a form intelligible to humans and normallyis accompanied by an indication of the period of time a respondent hasto enter a response on a data entering device. If the response or answercriteria are transmitted prior to the expiration of the allowed timeinterval, they are in coded or unintelligible form. if the responsecriteria are transmitted following the time interval, they can be inopen language or other intelligible form. In the latter case, responseor answer criteria may consist of the actual correct answer or answers.

The answer criteria may include scoring instructions. If differentlevels of difficulty are available, the scoring instructions convey themethodology or mode of computing the amount of a prize awarded foracceptable answers at different levels of difficulty.

At remote locations of members of the telephone audience, as describedabove, members are provided with an electronic response and evaluationunit, which as a minimum, includes a response entering device, means forcomparing an entered response to an acceptable response, a timing deviceand means for informing a user of the telephone service of an earnedaward. It is understood, of course, that communications equipment isavailable to a user for contacting the central facility providing theservice, in order to request the playback of a tape. Appropriate meansfor audibly and/or visually presenting the contents of the tape and forinforming contestants of an award are provided.

In those instances where response criteria are received at remotelocations after the time interval allowed for responding to a task hasexpired, the response criteria can include signals conveying one or morecorrect or acceptable responses in both an instructional form and in aninformative form. The signals, when in instructional, normallyunintelligible digital form, are capable of activating and controllingcircuits, such as the scoring elements of the response units and, whenconverted into informative, intelligible form serve to notify gameparticipants of winning answers. When response criteria or responses aretransmitted prior to the end of the allowed time interval, transmissionis rendered unintelligible by coding or changing the speed oftransmission of the signals. Depending on the time of transmissionbefore or after the elapsing of the time interval, the answer criteriatherefore may be unintelligible or may comprise the actual acceptableanswers in open language.

According to a preferred embodiment of the method, a question and answergame is prerecorded on a magnetic tape as previously described. Aquestion is posed and a time limit, for example, of ten seconds isannounced in open language, visually and/or audibly. At the same time aparticipant's electronic unit is directed by instructional signals toaccept an entry by a participant for the following ten seconds and thento evaluate the entered response in accordance with response criteria.During these ten seconds, there is either no recording or, if desired, amusical recording provided on the tape. Following expiration of the tensecond time interval, one or more acceptable and previously recordedanswers are announced in open language. The comparison and scoring meansevaluate a participant's entry relative to the transmitted responsecriteria. A successful respondent is informed in a known manner, whichcan include the dispensing of a monetary prize as described. Questionsand answers may be at two or more difficulty levels as describedhereinabove.

In the operation of the system, a dedicated telephone line may becoupled to a playback device which plays back one specific tape or oneof a specific group of tapes selected by a subscriber to the telephoneservice. Thus, by calling a number, the caller will automaticallyreceive a playback of a particular tape. The equipment at a subscriber'sremote location comprises a sub-system, including the equipment fortwo-way communication between the remote location and the centralfacilities and further including the elements of the response unit forentering and evaluating answers. The two way communication equipment mayinclude means not only for directing a multiple digit call to adedicated number, but also for automatically activating meanscontrolling the tape playback mechanism. The sub-system may includemeans requiring only the lifting of a receiver or the pushing of onebutton to activate the playback of a tape at a central location fortransmission to the caller's location.

When desired, the equipment at a subscriber's remote location includespreviously described means for selecting one of several difficultylevels chosen by a contestant, answers at a higher difficulty levelbeing rewarded with a larger prize. And, as previously described, meansare provided for generating a hard copy record of an award earned by aparticipant, these means being capable of printing on a coupon ormagnetizing a plastic card so as to indicate the value of an award,normally a monetary prize. The response unit in cooperation with a modem(FIG. 22) may transmit data indicating the amount of a prize won by aparticipant over the two-way communicating system to a central locationwhere the amount of the prize is stored. The operators of the telephoneservice can make payment of a prize amount to a winning subscriber inany fashion, including the crediting of the account of a winningparticipant with the amount of a prize, such credited amount beingcarried on the ledger of the operator and reflected in billing thewinning subscriber.

The method and system may be modified so that every time a subscriberdials a dedicated number, such a call automatically authorizes theoperator of the service to charge an amount to the caller, which amountcan be on a per use basis, on a time basis, or ca be determined by thecaller.

When desired by a participant, a prize amount can be electronicallytransferred by the subscription service to a bank account of theparticipant so that the amount of the prize is immediately available tothe winner in such a game.

In another version of the present invention, members of a remoteaudience wager on the outcome of an event. Members can place bets on theaccuracy of their respective predictions, but do not necessarily playagainst other members of the audience.

Using a two-way communication system a participant, who has a line ofcredit with an operator of a televised event, may choose a specificevent and stipulate the amount of a wager on the outcome of the event onwhich the participant wishes to bet. Events, the outcome of which can bepredicted, include sports, elections, polls, and other kinds ofhappenings, the outcomes of which are capable of being defined in termsof results, scores, points, decisions, and other measurements.

With reference to FIGS. 22 and 24, the system employs traditionaltelephone facilities at a central location which may be operated by atelephone company, a subscriber service, or by other facilitiesoperators. The facilities are contacted by a person wishing to place abet on the outcome of an event, such contacting being done byconventional communication means. The person contacting such centralfacility in order to initiate a wager, may be referred to as anobserver, subscriber, wagerer or bettor. In contacting such a centralfacility, the observer of an event to take place authorizes the centralservice organization to charge the observer either a previouslystipulated amount, an amount determined by the real time use of thefacility, or an amount stipulated by the observer, such as is the caseif the amount of the wager is fixed by the wagerer. The amount chargedto or authorized by the wagerer is billed to him directly, but may alsobe debited by the central subscriber service to the wagerer's bankaccount.

Following authorization by the subscriber, the operator of the centralservice initiates the playing of a recording or the transmission of abroadcast and activates a sub-system of the subscriber, normally locatedat the subscriber's home. In addition, the service operator accepts abet on a specified outcome of an event, such acceptance being done by ahuman operator or through electronic communication. Thus, for example,within a bettor's line of credit, a bettor who dials a "900" number andadditional digits, can place a bet and, by dialing a specific number ofdigits, the event and amount of a bet can be specified by thesubscriber.

At a central location, which may be the same as or different from thatat which the central telephone facility is located, events are broadcastto subscribers' remote locations and the outcomes of events aremonitored. Broadcast signals of such events are transmitted to andreceived at remote locations, so that subscribers can follow theprogress of events as they unfold. Outcome criteria signals defining theoutcome of an event in absolute terms or in relation to the predictionsand wagers are transmitted to subscribers at remote locations.

The response unit at a subscriber's location informs the subscriber of asuccessful prediction by generating and dispensing to a successfulbettor a token of a winning bet, such token being a printed coupon ormagnetized card. The response unit also scores a winning prediction inaccordance with an applicable difficulty level.

Payments computed and payable to or by a bettor can be debited orcredited to a bettor's account or monthly statements, or can bereflected directly on the bettors bank account. Alternatively, when awinning token is generated and dispensed, the token which has the amountwon indicated thereon, can be submitted for credit to the operator ofthe service, to a bank, or to another redemption center.

Following authorization of applicable charges, a subscriber's sub-systemcan, when appropriate, be made operative by signals sent over telephonewires or by another form of communication, including wireless and cablesystems. According to another aspect of the method, the subscriber'ssub-system can be activated by the subscriber, and a hard copy record ofa successfully predicted outcome is dispensed to the observer of anevent. This method is preferred when subscribers do not wish to placebets, as may be the case in a home or in a public place in which membersof a family or friends are gathered, or when betting is illegal. Recordsissued in such an instance have no commercial value unless validated bya verification number or a code which is only provided upon asubscriber's having authorized an appropriate charge by the centraltelephone or subscriber service. Verification data are transmitted toremote locations via a communication link such as a telephone line orcable.

As an example of operating the system, two central facilities areprovided, one being a telephone subscriber service and the other being astation televising a sports event, such as a boxing bout. Viewers areinformed that they can wager on the outcome of each round or on thefinal outcome of the bout, the wager being a win, lose, or draw. Viewersalso are informed that boxer A is a favorite over boxer B and that asuccessful wager on boxer B will be rewarded with 200% of the amount ofthe wager, whereas a successful wager on boxer will be rewarded with125% of the amount of the wager. Subscribers to the telephone servicethen dial a dedicated number, including additional digits specifying achosen round and/or the final result and the amount wagered on eachoutcome.

Viewers watch the event on television and at the end of each roundand/or of the bout, instructional signals are sent from the centralbroadcast facility to remote locations defining each outcome andproviding scoring instructions to subscriber response units forcomputing the amount won by a successful subscriber.

The invention may be applied to a game which is conducted from a centrallocation and enables players at remote locations to win prizes deliveredinstantly at each player's location. Prizes normally take the form oftokens redeemable for cash.

In an adaptation of the system described, players are provided with aresponse unit and recording medium for the outputting of hard copy witha recording of identifiable data. A first set of data has been providedon the recording medium prior to delivery thereof to the players. Thedata may be presented as alphanumeric or other symbols. For example, aset data may comprise a combination of six letters and numbers whichhave been prerecorded on a tamper-resisting recording medium.

The recording medium may consist of a paper tape divisible into sectionsor it may consist of a plastic card having data magnetically recordedthereon. In any event, such token or recording medium is capable ofbeing placed in the response unit for the purpose of having recordedthereon at least one additional second set of alphanumeric data orsymbols. Signals from a central station serve the purpose of conveyingdata and controlling the printer of the response unit.

In the operation of such a system, a second set of data may comprise,for example, six letters and/or numbers selected or picked at random ata central location. Signals conveying the data are electronicallytransmitted to remote locations. Transmission can take place over theair or by wire. The central transmitting facility is adapted to activateand direct the printers to print the second set of data. The printeralso is directed then to print a third set of data on the recordingmedium, the third set of data consisting of a verification code ornumber.

The recording medium, which in this instance is a paper tape, can beseparated into sections, each section containing the first and secondsets of numbers or letters, as well as the verification code.

A player therefore receives a recording medium with at least three setsof data, which data may be readable by individuals and/or may be machinereadable.

If the game is played as a lottery, a winning recording medium is onewhich has two sets of alphanumeric data or other symbols, which eithermatch completely, match partially, or have some other previously definedcorrelation. Partially matching sets of data can be rewarded with smallprizes which become larger as more of the digits match. Other forms ofcorrelation can be established, whether mathematical or not, includingfor instance multiples and fractions.

When desired, the central transmission facility can instruct the printerto record additional information on the recording medium. The responseunit compares the two sets of alphanumeric or other data mentioned,computes the amount of a prize in accordance with instructional signalstransmitted from a central location, and indicates the amount of theprize on the recording medium.

According to a preferred embodiment of the method employed in the systemdescribed, a player is able to discern whether two sets of alphanumericdata on the recording medium are a match, a partial match, or have someother correlation; but the player may not know the amount of themonetary prize presented on the outputted recording medium. The medium,which may be a printed coupon or a magnetized card is delivered by awinning player to a redemption center where the player is informed ofthe size of the prize. Such a redemption center may be a place ofbusiness, for example, a store in which such a prize evidenced by aprinted coupon or magnetized card may be redeemed for cash and/ormerchandise. This method of informing players that they have won aprize, without knowing its amount, is utilized to attract buyers to aplace of business. The above method and system permit conducting a gamesimilar to a lottery by retail businesses, which game is purely a gameof chance and in which players at home may participate without charge tothem.

Yet another feature of the invention is demonstrated with respect toFIG. 14 which allows for a replaying of a previously recorded programwithout further replay of previously recorded of response criteriaincluding an acceptable response and a scoring mode. This is useful inthe case of an advertiser who provides a program of a situation aboutwhich questions may be asked, the program being recorded along withresponse criteria on a tape for distribution to members of the public.However, possibly for reasons of awarding only one prize per tape tosuccessful respondents, the advertiser wishes to conduct a question andanswer procedure only once so that prizes can be awarded only once. But,the program situation which typically includes descriptions of aadvertised products may be played back numerous times.

This feature may be demonstrated, by way of example, by constructing therecorder 520 of FIG. 4 with both a playback head 718 and a record head20 disposed alongside the path of a tape 722 upon which the foregoingprogram and response criteria have been recorded. This is accomplishedby providing the recording medium of the tape 722 with a first recordingportion which stores the program situation including advertisinginformation (or other data), and a second recording portion whichincludes the response criteria. The distinction between the two portionsof the recording medium is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 14 by use of aset of dots at 724 on the tape 722 to identify the second portion of therecording medium. Included in the second portion is a digital code whichcommands a disabling of the recorded response criteria data after theresponse criteria has been played back. The tape 722 moves, in adirection shown by an arrow, from the playback head 718 to the recordhead 720. As the second region at 724 moves past the playback head 720,the digital code is retrieved along line 346 and decoded by a decoder726 also located in the recorder 520. Upon receipt of the digital code,the decoder 726 records a disabling signal upon, or erases, the secondportion of the recording medium so that the response criteria originallyrecorded thereon can no longer be used. Alternatively, the recording ofa disabling signal may be replaced by a step of physically impairing theintegrity of the second recording portion.

With reference to FIG. 25, and in accordance with a further aspect ofthe invention, it is desirable to provide a respondent with the capacityto select an area of interest in the program transmitted from a centralstation to a remote receiving station. This area of interest may pertainto answering questions relating to specific parts of the subject matterpresented in the transmitted program, or to the nature of awards whichmay be provided to successful contestants. By way of example in thenature of the questions requiring a response, the questions may bedirected to historical aspects of the material being presented on theprogram, or may be directed to the manner of construction of itemspresented in the program, or to the cost of the items. For example, in aprogram devoted to the merchant marine in which both new an old forms ofships are presented, questions may be of an historical nature directedto when and where certain forms of ships were employed. Or the questionsmay be directed to the manner of construction of ships in both ancienttimes and the present time. Questions might also be directed to the costof buying a ship and the cost of maintaining a ship. During thepresentation of the ship program advertisers may display, by way ofexample, merchandise such as clothing to be worn on cruises and on othervacations. Coupons awarded to successful contestants may specify adiscount towards specific styles of the clothing or, alternatively mayprovide a discount to certain marine products shown in the program or,by way of further example, toward theater tickets.

A specific type of award is associated with specific types or categoriesof questions which a contestants may select in order to avail himself orherself the benefit of a preferred category of award. Thus, acontestants choice of area of interest may be based on the subjectmatter of the questions or on the nature of the award. This capacity forselecting an area of interest greatly increases the chance that acontestant will participate, and that the contestant will redeem thecoupon. Fortunately, as will be shown in the ensuing description, thisaspect of the invention can be practiced with a response unit, such asthe response unit 22 of FIG. 4, the response unit 210 of FIG. 8, or aresponse unit 800 to be described in FIG. 26, with no more than aminimal change relating to the addressing of memories therein.

The addressing of the memories is demonstrated in FIG. 25 with respectto the response unit 210 of FIG. 8. As has been explained hereinabovewith reference to FIG. 8, command signals entered at the keyboard 356are operative via the control logic unit 350 to activate the memories330, 332, and 334. In the foregoing description of the system 200 ofFIG. 6, or the system 200A of FIG. 7, the central station transmits atelevised program plus answering instructions, scoring criteria and amessage to appear upon a coupon to a remote station wherein the responseunit 210 operates with the answering instructions, the scoring criteriaand the coupon message upon activation by a contestant. In particular,it is noted that the transmission of answering instructions, the scoringcriteria and the coupon message relate to a single set of questions inonly one area of interest, such as the area A indicated in the memories332, 334 and 330, respectively. However, in the practice of this aspectof the invention wherein the contestant can select areas of interest,the central station sends also additional sets of answer instructions,scoring criteria and coupon messages for other areas of interest such asthe area B and the area C shown in FIG. 25. While only three areas ofinterest are shown, it is understood that more areas may be employed ifdesired. Also, by way of example, four questions are shown in FIG. 25,it being understood that more questions may be provided if desired.

To practice the invention, the response unit 210 is provided with thecapacity to store the requisite information for a plurality of interestareas to enable the respondent to choose an area of interest. In theoperation of a response unit 210, the respondent first selects the areaof interest, after which the response unit 210 functions in the samemanner as has been described with reference to FIG. 8. The selection isaccomplished by entering at the keyboard 356 a letter, or other symbol,designating the desired area of interest. The entered letter, as shownin FIG. 25, serves to address the appropriate regions in each of thememories 330, 332, and 334, so that the response unit 210 can thenfunction in accordance with the coupon message, the response criteriaand the scoring criteria of the selected area of interest. The responseunit 210 compares responses of the respondent with the acceptableanswers stored in the memory 332 to identify an acceptable response,scores and times responses in accordance with data stored in the memory334, and outputs a coupon with redemption and advertising data thereonin accordance with information stored in the memory 330. If desired, theresponse unit 210 may be provided with a dedicated selector device, suchas a selector switch 802, shown in the simplified view of the keyboardin FIG. 25, for addressing the memories.

The capacity to select an area of interest is particularly useful forthe merchandising of products with the aid of a game show broadcast fromthe central station 202 of FIG. 6, or transmitted in prerecorded fashionby use of the recording apparatus presented in the cabin 500 of FIG. 11or the system 618 of FIG. 22. The respondent plays the role of acontestant in the game or quiz program, and also acts as a potentialshopper for merchandise presented in the program. By use of the selectorswitch 802, the shopper selects the area of interest having the productof interest. The shopper then plays the game or quiz in earnest toreceive a coupon which facilitates purchase of the product by redemptionof the coupon. If desired verification codes may be imprinted on thecoupon in a manner described hereinabove. A product may also be selectedprior to responding to a task, subject of course, to entering anacceptable answer or prediction.

FIG. 26 shows the response unit 800. The response unit 800 provides thefunctions of the response unit 210 of FIG. 8 by use of a computer 804which replaces certain components of the response unit 210, namely, thecomparators 372 and 374, the registers 376 and 378, the multipliers 380and 382, the summer 384, and the accumulator 386. The computer 804 isoperative with a memory 806 which provides the program for performingthe functions of the replaced components, and also connects with thecontrol logic unit 350 for interaction with the memories 330, 332 and334, the timing unit 336, and the buffer store 336. The computer 804,which may be constructed as a microprocessor, outputs signals to thedispenser 390 and to the scoring logic unit 370 as does the accumulator386 in FIG. 8. Also, the computer 804 can provide data on the display358 via the control logic unit 350.

An advantage in the use of the computer 804 is that the memory 806 maystore algorithms for providing more complex routines for a moreversatile scoring of the responses than is possible with the responseunit 210 of FIG. 8. For this purpose, it is desirable to provide thememory 806 with an external replaceable storage medium such as a tapewhich may be mounted on a card, a dedicated replaceable read-only memory(ROM) chip, or a floppy disk so that scoring can be customized to matchthe product selected by the respondent shopper. The memory may beprovided with advertising data and redemption instructions as well asverification material to be placed on the coupon awarded to thesuccessful respondent shopper. This enhances the merchandisingcapabilities of this method of the invention wherein the respondentselects areas of interest. Also, by virtue of the connection of thecomputer 804 to the dispenser 390, the computer can direct theimprinting of specific material on the coupon in accordance withspecific instructions of an advertiser or merchant.

In some cases, it may be desirable to provide the functions of comparingresponses with acceptable answers, identifying acceptable responses, andscoring the acceptable responses at a central station such as thecentral station 202 of FIG. 22. This is accomplished by providing thesystem 618 with a response evaluation unit 808 connected to theswitchboard 622. The response evaluation unit 808 includes the computer804 and the memory 806 of FIG. 26 so as to be able to perform thefunctions of comparing, identifying, and scoring. By virtue of theconnection of the evaluation unit 808 to the switchboard 622, thefunctions of the evaluation unit 808 are provided to the central station202 in response to signals from the remote stations. For example, thesefunctions could be disabled in the response units 210 of the remotestations and provided by the central station with the responseevaluation unit 808 employing algorithms not available to the remotestations.

FIG. 27 shows a flow chart of the program for operation of the computer804 of FIG. 26. Operation begins at block 810 wherein the computerreceives instructions from the program memory 330 via the control logicunit 350. Then at block 812, the computer reads the keyboard 356 via thebuffer store 366 to determine what entry may have been made by therespondent. If no entry has been made, operation loops back to the block812 for a subsequent reading of the keyboard. If an entry has been madeby the respondent, such as the entry of a response to a question, thecomputer reads the memories 332 and 334 at block 814 for response andscoring criteria or instructions.

The procedure advances to block 816 wherein a comparison is made betweenthe respondents answer with acceptable responses stored in the responsememory 332. This is followed by an identification of correct andpartially correct answers of the respondent. At block 818, the computerperforms the scoring function giving full credit and -partial credit inaccordance with the scoring instructions stored in the memory 334. Thisis accomplished by using the scoring criteria including difficultylevel, timing of response, and key word or full text credit whereapplicable in accordance with the nature of the response to thequestion. Then at block 820, the computer tallies previous scores fromprevious answers in a set of answers, if applicable to the questions athand, this function having been done by the accumulator 386 in theresponse unit 210 of FIG. 8.

The computer again checks the keyboard at block 822 to see if there is afurther entry. If there is a further entry, operation loops back toblock 814. If there is no further entry after a predetermined intervalof time, operation proceeds to block 824 for determination of the award.Then, at block 826, the computer signals the scoring logic unit 370 tocommand the dispenser 360 to issue the coupon. The coupon is imprintedwith material based on instructions and data stored in the programmemory 330, and may also contain data stored in the supplemental memory806.

The teachings presented in the preceding embodiments for the systems andmethods of the invention are applicable generally to the selectionaspect of the invention providing the product choice and choice of areaof interest. The following discussion amplifies the description of thepractice of the selection aspect of the invention to provide a fullappreciation thereof.

In many instances, local or regional suppliers of goods and servicesdevelop their own and highly focused marketing priorities. As anexample, a local retailer may wish to dispose rapidly of certain excessinventory or of perishable goods. Nationally broadcast programs may notbe the most suitable forum for such promotions.

Frequently, suppliers prefer to sponsor a coupon program directed atlocal or regional audiences. Until now, however, local newspapers havebeen the only forum of any consequences available to such local sponsorsfor detailed product offers.

The discounts or prizes are in many instances applicable to merchandisesold in stores and supermarkets. Specifically included are children'sstores. When desired, the products to which a discount applies may alsoinclude such items as admission tickets, travel tickets, totalaccommodations, subscriptions, vouchers, personal and any othermarketable services, including service agreements.

The components of the several systems and methods for practicing theinvention will now be described.

A central broadcasting facility includes the normal elements fortransmitting a program. For purposes of illustration, the invention willbe described in terms of television, but is equally applicable to radio.

The television program is received and presented on standardTV-receivers at viewers' remote locations. The program includes one ormore tasks, such as questions. Members of the broadcast audience whowish to become contestants on the spur of the moment are informed of thetime allowed for a response to each announced task.

Each task is accompanied by one or more predetermined acceptableresponses. Instructional signals conveying response criteria definingacceptable responses are electronically transmitted from a centralfacility to remote locations, said signals being referred to as responsecriteria signals. They include data conveying the allowed period of timeand mode for scoring an acceptable response, i.e. for assigning acalculated value to the prize coupon dispensed to a successfulcontestant. The response criteria are received at remote locations andmay be modified or reformatted by a conductor of the program from taskto task.

The electronic transmission can be done in any known manner: it can beon a radio frequency, via optical or light impulse codes, via cable,vertical blanking intervals or other means.

If desired, a task, such as a question, may be answered at one or morelevels of difficulty. If there is more than one level of difficulty, thelowest or base difficulty level normally is selected by the broadcasterand a higher difficulty level may be selected by a respondent. Means forsuch selection are provided to the broadcaster and to each member ofsaid audience.

Another group of predetermined signals is transmitted from a centralbroadcasting facility to remote locations conveying a listing of orinformation pertaining to the products of sponsors of such a broadcast.The term "product" includes goods and services whether specificallypromoted in the course of such a broadcast, such as a commercial, oronly appearing in the product listing of a sponsor. The informationconveyed by these broadcast signals is referred to as product signalsand comprises prices, specifications, sizes, capacaties, colors,packaging and other characteristics, as well as availability anddiscounts applicable to specified products. Product signals may alsoinclude "sales", "specials", free samples and any other informationpertaining to such products and deemed useful by a sponsor. The productinformation is modified or reformatted as determined by a sponsor.

Members of the broadcast audience are equipped with means for receivingand presenting the broadcast program, which includes tasks or mayessentially consist only of tasks. Members of said audience have meansto receive the response criteria signals and the product signals, thedata for both being stored in appropriate storage means at members'locations. The product signals can include all the promotional datamentioned. Product information may be presented to viewers on a standardTV-set or on a separate screen or display. In addition, members areprovided with means to enter a response to a task, such response dataalso being stored at members' locations.

The response criteria data product data, when modified, replace orsupersede any previously stored data of the same nature. Responsecriteria include, when desired, a formula for placing a value on anacceptable response, referred to as scoring mode.

The means provided at members' locations for displaying the latestproduct list and other information desired by sponsors permit sponsorsor broadcasters to delete, substitute, add or modify information.Audience members are equipped with means for individually selecting fromsaid product list a product they prefer and intend to purchase. Saidselecting means may be separate, or may be associated with the means forentering a viewer's response to a task.

The equipment provided at each remote location normally includes signalreceiving means and presentation means for the program, task and productinformation; signal receiving means for response criteria; enteringmeans for response and product selection; data storage means; comparingand scoring means; and means for generating and dispensing a prizetoken.

The above mentioned means at contestants' locations may conveniently becombined into a response unit.

The methods described lend themselves well to narrow-casting. The termnarrowcasting is defined as the ability to transmit product or serviceinformation to a select group of members of a broadcast audience. Thepresent method described, which dispenses prizes to individualsintending to purchase a specified product or products, narrowcastsproduct information because only viewers with a discount incentive willuse the product information. Conversely, product information will usethe product information. Conversely, product information can be utilizedonly by viewers who have earned a prize through skill and have qualifiedfor a discount applicable to a selected product.

A response entered by a member and stored, if necessary, is compared bycomparison means with the applicable response criteria. A winningcontestant's prize is calculated by scoring means on the basis of theapplicable scoring mode. The product selection and a winning respondentsscore are outputted to a device at each contestant's location forgenerating a permanent record, such as a coupon, which, when dispensed,has provided thereon an indication of the prize and of the chosenproduct, including any sales or redemption information the advertiserwants the shoppers to have. At least one scoring mode or base is alwaysrequired and used in order to determine the value of a prize. In someinstances, only one mode of scoring may be desired. This is the case ifonly one fixed award is to be made to winners obviating the computationof a score. An example would be a "true or false" type of answer. Such asingle fixed award is made to all successful participants in case asponsor intends to introduce a new product, in which event winningcontestants are given the opportunity to select a free sample from anumber of different available products. The chosen product is thenspecified on a prize coupon.

The device for generating a permanent record normally comprises aprinter capable of printing or otherwise marking on a substrate, i.e.the recording medium, the award information, product information,redemption terms and a verification number; the record, such as coupon,includes commercial messages, including advertisements and announcementsof special events and prizes. When desired, prizes may be awarded to asuccessful contestant over and above the award for an acceptableresponse; examples being "blind" or sweepstake prizes.

The term "prize" is intended to include all forms of rewards, such ascash, prizes, discounts, free merchandise, other financial andnon-financial benefits, certificates, recognition or benefits. The terms"prize" and "discount" as used herein may occasionally beinterchangeable.

The term "redeem" is intended to include the collection of a prize bydelivering or presenting a coupon personally, through the mail, or otherforms of obtaining a prize or discount upon surrendering or in exchangefor a coupon.

The term "sales outlet" is intended to include retail and public stores,redemption centers, catalog centers and all sales location whetheraccessed in person or by mail.

The word "conductor" or "host" as used for instance in the term"conductor of a broadcast transmission" is intended to include theindividuals engaged in the operation of formulating a message or programfor broadcasting on behalf of an advertiser, manufacturer, store orsponsor.

The term "dissimilar" is intended to include the meaning of differentand non-identical.

The term "shopper" is intended to include individuals who are potentialor perspective buyers of products and services.

The term "scoring basis" is intended to include complex scoring based ona formula, credits earned, difficulty level, time consumed and othercriteria, as well as an automatic or fixed scoring basis, such as asingle and universally applicable score as would be applied to a "yes orno" answer. An example of a fixed scoring basis would be a 10% discountprize for every correct answer entered within the allowed time limit.

A "correlation" of alphanumeric or other symbols may take the form of acomplete or partial match or any other mathematical or predeterminedcorrelation thereof.

The term "listing" as in "product listing" is intended to include thenames of products, their specifications, prizes, discounts and otherproduct information.

The term "matching" is intended to include any predetermined correlationof alphanumerics or symbols.

The term "superior" as in "superior response" is intended to includeanswers, response and predictions that are more accurate, morecomprehensive, more responsive or entered within a shorter period oftime.

The term "acceptable response" is intended to include answers toquestions and prediction of events which are wholly correct, orsufficiently or in part correct, or which otherwise qualify for a prize,discount, recognition or award.

The term "conjointly" as used herein refers to the transmission andreception of electronic signals and the presentation of a task-settingmessage and of product information conveyed by said signals incombination, taking place partially or entirely concurrently orfollowing each other so as to form a joined presentation.

The signals electronically transmitted and conveying task messages arereferred to as the task-setting signals. The signals, electronicallytransmitted and conveying the response criteria are referred to as theresponse criteria signals. The signals electronically transmitted andconveying a product list or product information are referred to asproduct information signals. The signals electronically transmitted andconveying the outcome criteria of a prediction are referred to asoutcome or success criteria.

The product signals may include information regarding additional orspecial discounts or other prizes over and above, and unrelated to, thecoupon prize. For example, a product listing may include under one ormore products the statement "The purchase of this product doubles yourcoupon prize". This form of direct marketing gives managers a great dealof maneuverability including sales on short notice. These types ofmessages presented to shoppers for instance on a TV-terminal, orLCD-screen, or appearing on prize coupons, can be modified upon aseller's instructions on very short notice, such as through telephonicinstructions by a store manager to a broadcast station which transmitsthe response criteria and other instructional signals.

Typically, the printer includes means for storing a recording medium,for instance a continuous paper tape which, following the printing of acoupon, is severed or divided into coupon sections. According to thepresent invention, the device includes known means capable of dispensingtokens, such as coupons of larger or smaller size, depending on theamount of text printed on such coupon and having desired configurations.When desired, for example in the case of an educational quiz asdescribed below, the printer can be designed for the presentation ofgraphics or it can take the form of a telefax device capable ofdepicting pictures, drawings and the like.

Using the present methods and the systems described, a broadcaster or asponsor formulates task sets, the sets each comprising task-setting andresponse criteria signals, being broadcast successively. Tasks may beinterspersed in programs or program segments and may be broadcastindividually or intermittently. Each task is accompanied by one or moreacceptable responses. One acceptable response may apply to more than onetask, such as the answer "yes" applying to a number of questions. Atask-setting message can comprise a question requiring an answer, or asolicitation or request for a prediction of the outcome of a futureevent. Operationally, these two types of task-setting messages andshoppers' responses thereto are treated similarly, except that in thecase of a question-, the period of time allowed for entering an answernormally is fixed, whereas in the case of a prediction, the entering orfurther entering of predictive information or the modification ofpredictions is not necessarily inhibited after a fixed period of time,but is inhibited prior to or at approximately the time of the occurrenceof the event.

The response or outcome criteria signals are broadcast from a centrallocation, which may or may not be the location of the task broadcast.The product information signals normally are broadcast but may bebroadcast from another central location. The product signals may bemodified at any time as directed by a sponsor.

In the operation of the system described, a retailer prepares a listingof products selected for sales promotion in the target market. Theproducts selected may be designated by name, but often are numbered andmay be divided into categories. The products listings displayed atmembers, locations are grouped accordingly. If the product listing of asponsor is lengthy, it can be displayed to members in successivesegments or groupings. This is achieved by the use of known display andscrolling devices. Members' display devices may also be adapted todisplay and re-display successive listings of products or lists ofnumbered products in different categories as and when desired and suchadditional lists may be called up in sequence by a member of thebroadcast audience until a desired product category and/or a specificproduct is displayed which a member intends to buy.

When preferred, the entire presentation of product information can beperformed on television. In that event, the product listing can be shownon the television screen and the instructional signals are transmittedon the audio sideband frequency of the TV-program. Alternatively, theproduct listing can be shown on a liquid crystal display or on a small,separate, passive TV-screen. Both the passive terminal and the responseunit include comparison, scoring and printing circuits receiving theirradio command signals via a TV-audio or radio sub-carrier.

Using the split-screen television technique, the product information canconveniently be displayed along with other portions of the TV-program.This method is particularly easy and economical to implement on anautomated cable channel, which for example can display concurrently aquestion and a product list.

The selected product is identified by touching numbered buttons on arespondent's entry device, or by other means. This selection isoutputted to and is stored in a memory coupled to the printer or tomeans for computing the coupon value. The coupons may carry the samepercentage value, but a different value in absolute terms, depending onthe price of the merchandise. For example, for the same correct answeror prediction a $5.00 item selected by a contestant may be subject to a$.50 discount, whereas a $2.50 item is subject to a $.25 discount, thecomputation being performed by scoring means. In order to accommodate avariety of differently priced products, the coupon value can beexpressed in terms of a percentage discount applicable to any productselected by a member.

If a higher difficulty level is chosen, the absolute monetary award orthe percentage of the discount is raised. As an example, at the basic orfirst level of difficulty, the discount is 10%, at level two it is 15%and at level three it is 20%.

The response unit may include a self-contained memory which listsproducts for long term use. Memories of this kind, such as boards orcards for use in the response units, may be in interchangeable form forsubstitution in the response unit as required. For example, when amember receives a new coupon tape, whether in the mail or throughpersonal pickup at a store, a sponsor may utilize the opportunity toprovide such a member with a revised memory board which is supplied tosuch member along with the new tape and inserted in or connected to theresponse unit. Such revised memory is valid until replaced. Normally,the product listings assign numbers to individual products for use byshoppers. The response units at members, remote locations may beequipped with a memory capable of retaining all of the product items ofa retailer for a predetermined period of time. Products may be numberedpermanently or on an ad hoc basis. Periodically, say every day, theretailer conveys a listing of the names or numbers of products selectedfor promotion on that day. A sponsor's product listing may be stored ina memory for extended periods of time. The memory may be part of thedisplay means permanently storing product information. The shopper isprovided with control means to activate the screen displaying suchlisting at any time and further is provided with means to enter andindicate one or more items of interest to such shopper in the nearfuture.

The selection of said item is stored in a memory coupled to the meansinforming shoppers of items chosen by the sponsor for promotion. Thedisplay and selection means are further provided with comparing meansand alarm means, visual or audible, to inform or alert a shopper whenthe item of interest to the shopper is one chosen by the sponsor towhich a prize is applicable. This method enables shoppers to wait untilan item on a shopper's marketing list is announced as one eligible for aspecial prize and then attempt to qualify for such a prize by respondingto a question. In such an event a shopper's product selection is enteredprior to the entering of an answer or prediction.

Prize coupons can be redeemed at a sales outlet specified on saidcoupon; other provisions may appear on coupons, such as dates and termsof redemption. A discount or other prize specified on a coupon may bemade applicable to a group or mixture of products which includes theproduct specifically selected by the contestant, as well as otherproducts to be promoted. Coupons may be redeemed in person, by mail, orby telephone using the validation code on the coupons to verify itsauthenticity.

In an alternative embodiment, contestants' display means are directed bythe product signals to display only the names or numbers of productitems selected by a sponsor from the comprehensive listing of productspermanently stored in the memory of the response units. The productnumbers thus displayed and applying for example to a "special" on salethe same day may be changed easily and quickly. A sponsor may provideprinted lists of all products to viewers, each product being permanentlynumbered so that a viewer can relate a broadcast product number to aspecific product.

When preferred, the entire presentation of product information can beperformed on television. In that event, the product listing can be shownon the television screen, using for example the split screen or windowtechnique, and the instructional signals can be transmitted on the audiosideband frequency of the TV-program. Alternatively, the product listingcan be shown on a small, separate, passive terminal screen, which can bepart of the response unit.

The methods provide, when desired, for an announcement of productinformation by the host of a TV-broadcast. This embodiment is preferredwhen the information is to be particularly emphasized or relayed to thepublic as quickly as possible. In that event, the host indicates tomembers of the broadcast audience the products or the reference numbersapplying to specific products, so that a contestant, by touchingappropriate buttons on a keypad of the response unit, can designate theproduct which is to be identified on the coupon dispensed to asuccessful contestant. An on-stage or off-stage announcer can orallydescribe the product and related information, while the correspondingvisual information can be retained on the screen for as long as isdesired.

The present invention has applications in areas other than thetraditional promotion of commercial merchandise. An example is aninventory of perishable produce which will have to be discarded, unlesssold within 48 hours. A "special" on such produce can be announced onvery short notice, the produce carrying a 40% discount if purchasedwithin 48 hours. The following day, the discount provided on prizecoupons can be raised to 75%, if the produce is purchased that same day.It is evident that a store manager will prefer to salvage 25% of theretail value of a product to a total loss. As an additional promotiondevice, the basic level of difficulty in answering a quest-ion can bedropped, so as to generate an even larger number of prize winningshoppers. As an additional illustration, in the example, a productselection may be left unchanged for all tasks presented, or may bechanged when the desired number or quantity of products has been reachedto which the prizes won by such a member are applicable. The system canbe adapted to permit contestants to select more than one product to bespecified on a prize coupon, provided all of such products are includedin the listing of products eligible for discounted purchase.

A prize can be made available to a shopper in the form of a couponcarrying a discount on a product or in another form, such as a cashprize, a credit or other benefit collected personally, by telephone, orthrough the mail.

In an alternative embodiment of the present method, the broadcaster ororganizer of a program composes and provides to viewers product listingssupplied by a plurality of sponsors. In such an event a programinitiator periodically collects information from several local supplierswith respect to the products each of them wishes to promote. Based onsuch information, the program initiator or broadcaster than prepares acomposite listing of appropriately numbered products available from aplurality of suppliers, which listing is announced and/or displayed tothe remote audience on their display screens. The response criteriasignals instruct the printer to output a hard copy record stipulatingthe sales outlet at which the products of the respective sponsors can bepurchased using a discount token.

Thus, the latest product information can be conveyed to members of theremote audience and can be updated at any time. A sponsor can alter theinstructional signals by making a telephone call to the localFM-station. This adds a great deal of flexibility to the promotionalefforts of regional producers and local retailers. Obviously, theprinciple of the systems and methods described can be applied also tonational broadcasts. In that event, the sponsors of an advertisingcampaign or program lists only products to be promoted on a nationwidebasis.

It will be clear from the description of the coupons that, apart fromcarrying a prize, the coupons can serve a an effective direct marketingtool having advantages which no other form of promotion can match. Themethods of the present invention make it practical and economical tocombine the delivery in a shopper's home of a promotional hard copyrecord representing a financial award with sales information of specificinterest to the winner of the prize at the time of receipt. The factthat the contestant has specified a product selected for intendedpurchase signifies that such a shopper is likely to visit the sponsor'sstore and examine the coupon and its other promotional messages closely.Being in the store and exposed to another product promoted on thecoupon, the contestant will at least seriously think about the otherproducts promoted.

As an example, a dispensed coupon can carry a discount on a firstproduct selected by a TV-viewer and, in addition, can carry a "buy one,get one free" message regarding a second product, the latter productbeing much more likely to be purchased once a shopper has entered asales outlet than if the product had been the subject of a free-standingmagazine insert.

Thus, a prize coupon carrying a discount on a first specified productand redeemable in a specified sales outlet, can be utilized to attract ashopper to said sales outlet in order to induce said shopper to purchasea second product available in the same sales outlet, said couponcarrying an additional discount or prize on a second product.

Coupons dispensed to winners normally bear a verification number orcode. When desired, sweepstake or other prizes may be awarded inaddition to the prizes applicable to scored responses, such additionalprizes being awarded to a small number of winners determined in anysuitable fashion.

Such additional prize information is conveyed to members, locationsthrough the transmission of additional response criteria signals. Forexample, if the verification code consists of six digits, the last threedigits in their specific order may constitute the "lucky number" of theday, if matched by a 3-digit number chosen by a sponsor on that day,entitling the holder of the winning coupon to an additional prize uponredemption of the coupon in a sales establishment or other specifiedlocation. The three digits chosen by the sponsor or broadcaster can berevealed at the place of redemption, or can be transmitted with theresponse criteria signals. The number of such additional prizes, whichcan range up to the value of sweepstake prizes, is controllable. In theabove instance, the number of winning coupons is one per thousandcoupons dispensed.

The fact that a prize coupon is issued only to contestants who have wonit through skill, make it legally permissible in many locations toattach larger or even sweepstake prizes to such coupons. The delivery ofa prize-winning record at a sales location preferably is tied to thepersonal delivery thereof, but may also be performed by using the mailor telephone.

The present invention combines practical, psychological and financialinducements to bring about an increased rate of coupon redemption bytelevision viewers and radio listeners. A member of the broadcastaudience who has selected a product because its purchase is timely, whowins a discount prize through personal skill, and who will save on thepurchase of the product, is very likely to redeem such a prize coupon bybuying the product at the specified sales outlet.

A number of additional methods intended to induce TV-viewers to redeemcoupons will now be described. The instructional signals directing theresponse units at viewers' locations to generate a token, such a coupon,direct the coupon generator or printer to generate and dispense to onesuccessful contestant more than one coupon at a time. Multiple couponsmay be awarded for superior responses. For example, a total prize may beawarded in the form of three coupons redeemable upon purchase of two ormore items or kinds of merchandise, or a total prize may be awardedconsisting of two identical coupons for the same merchandise. Additionalcoupons and cash prizes may be dispensed for one acceptable response ata high difficulty level or for an exceptionally comprehensive answer. Ifmore than one coupon is awarded for one response, the two or morecoupons may have different values, redemption dates or places ofredemption, in order to increase the number of shoppers attracted tosales establishments on any given day or to induce a shopper to visit aplace of redemption more than once.

In another embodiment of the methods described, coupons dispensed towinners of an award are provided with first code symbols, said symbolsvarying from coupon to coupon, an example being consecutive six-digitnumbers. The first code symbols may have previously been provided onsaid coupons, for instance on the coupon tape prior to the insertion ofsaid tape into the coupon generating means. The first code symbols canalso be provided on the coupons at approximately at the time of orsubsequent to the printing of the prize indication. The first and secondcodes together constitute a winning combination if they match or bear apredetermined correlation, said correlation having been determined by anorganizer of the broadcast, such as a sponsor, or advertiser. As anexample, in the case of a six-digit number code, a correlation may bedetermined to exist if the last three digits on such a coupon match.Other code forms may be devised. Winning codes or code combinationsnormally are not intelligible, i.e. not identifiable as a winning code,by a contestant at his location and are revealed to a shopper only atthe place of redemption of the prize coupon.

A code may be alphanumerical and/or comprise other symbols, which codeis only machine-readable at the place of redemption, so that the bearerof such a coupon will not know whether a prize coupon caries anadditional prize until and until and unless said coupon is redeemed. Theopportunity of winning an additional "blind" prize, the value of whichis not discernible by a contestant who already has won a prize throughskill, i.e. by correctly answering a question, will in many instances bethe decisive factor that will make the holder of such a coupon decide tovisit a store or other place of redemption. A coupon may carry adiscount applicable to the price of a first selected product asdescribed, and in addition, the generating means, such as a printer, maybe directed by the instructional signals to provide on the couponindications of an additional prize or other benefit tied to the purchaseof a second product. The second product may be specified by thecontestant, or it may be specified by a sponsor, or it may be anunspecified product. In the latter case the holder of such a coupon willbe able to purchase the selected product at a discount and apply theadditional prize to a second product selected once the shopper is in theplace of redemption.

In another use of the invention, a combined method is employed to raisethe redemption rate of coupons preprinted in magazines, newspapers,free-standing inserts and the like, hereinafter referred to aspreprinted coupons. The following examples illustrate a number of usesof the response unit of the invention in combination with the abovementioned preprinted coupons.

A hard copy record generated at a shopper's location bears a stipulationto the effect that, upon presentation of a specified or otherwiseidentified preprinted coupon together with the generated record, theshopper is entitled to an additional prize. The prize may be specifiedon the generated record, or it may be a "blind prize" which is revealedto the shopper only at the place of redemption of the preprinted coupon.It may also be printed on the coupon contained in the free-standinginsert. In another version of the method, the preprinted coupons areprovided with an identification, such as an alphanumeric or other code.Coupons dispensed to a prize-winning shopper by his or her response unitalso are provided with an alphanumeric or other code. A shopperpresenting a preprinted coupon and a prize-winning coupon havingmatching or correlated codes is entitled to an additional prize, whichmay be a sweepstake prize. The value of the additional prize isdisclosed to such a shopper only at the sales outlet. All of the methodsdescribed will raise the redemption rates of coupons.

If desired the steps of comparing entered responses to the applicableresponse criteria and of identifying and scoring prize-winning responsescan be performed at a central location, in which event shoppers' enteredresponses are electronically transmitted to a central location, such asby telephone and modem. In such a situation, means for comparing,identifying and scoring are provided at a central location, these meansoperating in the manner described previously with respect to theresponse unit at a remote station. Instructional signals governing thegenerating of a hard copy record are then electronically transmitted toshoppers' locations, at which location said records are generated anddispensed. The instructional signals can be transmitted to shoppers'remote locations in any known manner, such as on an FM-radio frequency,or, in television transmissions through the vertical blanking intervals,through TV-audio or video sub-carrier signals generated by subliminallight impulses.

In all instances, however, hard copy records are generated and dispensedat shoppers' remote locations.

According to the present invention, scrambling devices may be providedas part of the response units at shoppers' locations; such scramblingdevices of known design are activated and controlled by instructionalsignals transmitted from a central location. It is the function of saidscrambling devices to scramble in random fashion alphanumeric datatransmitted, so that when desired, the codes printed or otherwiseprovided on the hard copy records of a multitude of shoppers randomlydiffer from each other. In that manner, shoppers in a geographicallylimited area will receive tokens such as coupons bearing dissimilar ornon-identical alphanumeric or other codes. The method of randomlyrearranging or disturbing the order of numbers and other symbolstransmitted, permits the organizer or sponsor of a broadcast to limitthe distribution of prizes to a restricted and somewhat controllednumber of television viewers, thus limiting the financial exposure ofsuch sponsor. When broadcasting to a larger audience, the financialexposure of a sponsor can be statistically determined within a narrowrange by following the scrambling procedure described.

The product list may be presented to shoppers at their remote locationsby transmitting instructional signals from a central location directingthe printers of the response units to print the names or numbers of aplurality of products on the prize coupon generated and dispensed asdescribed. The shopper having received such a coupon displaying alisting of several products then indicates his or her choice of producton the coupon in any convenient manner, such as by checking off,circling, filling in a box, drawing a line, etc. The prize carried bysuch a coupon is applicable to the earmarked product. Thus the couponitself serves as a product list limited to products from which a shoppercan make a final selection after having entered a sales outlet. Thus awinning TV-viewer can take to a store a discount coupon applicable to aproduct selected by the shopper at the checkout counter from a list ofproducts. In this fashion, the sponsor has the ability to limit the listof discount products and the shopper can make the final selection.

According to a preferred method and configuration of the passiveterminal, a participant can program a memory in the terminal by enteringthe names or numbers of one or more products targeted by the participantfor early purchase. The potential shopper can then leave the terminalunattended. When the sponsor of a program includes a product sospecified by a shopper among those earmarked by the sponsor fordiscounts or other awards, an alarm in the terminal is activated so asto alert the shopper to this fact. The shopper then has the opportunityto participate in the game and to win a prize token, such as a coupon,carrying a discount on the selected product targeted by the shopper forimmediate purchase. It is virtually certain that such a shopper willredeem the coupon thus obtained.

FIG. 28 shows steps of the method for the selection aspect of theinvention. Preparation of materials, including formatting of responseand scoring criteria, may be performed by the host at the centralstation, or prerecorded by the host for transmission to remote stationsfrom the central station, indicated at block 828. Program materialincluding questions and product listings are televised at block 830 tobe received for viewing, at block 832, by a shopper, indicated at block834. A separate communication channel at block 836, such as a sidebandof an audio or video portion of the television transmission, providesinstructions such as response and scoring criteria, as well as productadvertising information in the form of electronic signals to be employedin the operation of a response unit, indicated at block 838. Theresponse unit includes a keypad for entering an answer, memory forstoring the various criteria and instructions plus advertising ormerchandising matters, computation equipment for evaluating answers, anda printer for producing a hard copy record of the respondentsperformance.

The shopper selects an area of interest at block 840 at the responseunit, and then enters a response at block 842. Upon a successfulresponding, the respondent shopper receives at block 844 a coupon fromthe response unit. The coupon provides a discount for selected products,and may carry advertising. At block 846, the shopper transmits thecoupon to a redemption center by any one of a variety of ways, such as,by mail or by telephone or in person. Then, at block 848, the shopperredeems the coupon and receives an award such as a discount on thepurchase of a selected product.

The foregoing description shows the full versatility of the system andmethodology of the invention for allowing contestants at remote stationsto participate in a game, quiz or other form of show, contest, game ofchance, or making predictions of the outcomes of unknown or futureevents, whether the show be live, prerecorded, or partially prerecordedand partially live.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram of a playing station of the system of FIG.29; and

FIG. 31 is a flow chart showing method steps employed at variouscomponents of the system of FIG. 29 for practicing the forgery proofwagering game.

FIGS. 29 and 30 are block diagrams showing a further embodiment of theinvention employing a central station and a set of remote stations,similar to those described above, in a system 900 for the conduction ofa wagering game in a forgery-proof fashion. The system 900 includescomponents which are essentially the same as components described above,and includes modifications for adapting the components to the practiceof wagering, as in a wagering game. The system 900 includes the centralstation 202, described above in reference to FIG. 6, and playingstations 206C similar to the remote stations 206B of FIG. 22. Each ofthe playing stations 206C includes a response unit 800 and a receivesystem 558 described above with reference to FIG. 26, and a TV system220 described above with reference to FIG. 6 and employing a screen 208(FIG. 6) or screen 20 (FIG. 1) for presenting data or a scenario to aperson at the remote station. If desired, a scenario or wageringsituation may be presented to players via the telephone. Also includedin the system 900 are a telephone switchboard 622 and a responseevaluation unit 808 described above with reference to FIG. 22, and acentral telephone facility 702 and a subscriber's bank 708 describedabove with reference to FIG. 24. The system 900 further comprises ascoring computer 902, a data facility 904, a redemption facility 906 andan authorization unit 908. In a playing station 206C (FIG. 30) theresponse unit 800 is connected via lines 346 and 348 to the TV system220, as shown also in FIG. 6, and optionally via line 696 to a detector652 at the screen 20, as shown also in FIG. 3. Message and controlsignals (FIG. 29) are coupled between the central station 202 and theswitchboard 622 via lines 638 and 640 as shown also in FIG. 22.Connection of a playing stations 206C (FIGS. 29 and 30) via modems 634and via lines 636 to the switchboard 622 is shown also in FIG. 22. InFIG. 29 a communication system 910 provides for a broadcasttransmission, via a communication channel 912, between central andremote stations, such as the broadcast transmission 222 of FIGS. 6 and22, or the separate broadcast transmissions by radio and televisionlinks of FIGS. 1 and 3. The communication system 910 also provides forcommunication via the telephone switchboard 622 and telephone lines 636,such as the telephonic communication of FIG. 22.

In the practice of wagering by the invention, a player at a playingstation 206C is informed about the nature of the wagering situation as afirst step in the usual practice of the invention. The informationprovided to the player may be only rudimentary, such as a time whenwagering may be performed, and a situation wherein a game such as lottois to be played by choosing one or more numbers. Alternatively, theinformation provided to a player may be complex such as a situationinvolving a game show, as has been described above with reference toFIG. 6, wherein at some point in the show, the players at the remoteplaying stations 206C may be asked to bet on an outcome of the show orsome other event. The communication channel 912 is intended to representvarious ways in which data can be disseminated to the players at thestations 206C such as by television and/or radio, a radio beingindicated at 914 in FIG. 30. It is understood that the communicationsystem 910 includes transmission of the requisite data by various means,in addition to the foregoing broadcast transmission of television andradio, such as by means of a previously recorded audio message employinga recorder 916, in accordance with the practice described above withreference to FIG. 11. Data may be provided even by means of a printedmedium 918 such as a newsletter. And, as will be explained below, thecommunication system 910 includes transmission of the requisite dataalso by means of a telephone 620.

Additionally, a video cassette recorder (VCR) 920 may be selectivelycoupled via a first branch of a switch 922 to the TV system 220, in lieuof connection of the TV system 220 to the antenna 282 for receipt of thebroadcast transmission 222. Connection of the TV system 220 to the VCR920 provides data in the manner described above with reference to FIGS.11 and 12. A second branch of the switch 922 selectively provides forconnection of the response unit 800 to the antenna 36 (shown also inFIG. 1) via the receiver 40 and the demodulator 42, or to a receivingsystem 558 for reception of data via the telephone line 636 as describedabove in reference to FIG. 22. Data may also be inputted to a player viaa telephone 620 connected to the telephone line 636 as described in FIG.22. The various ways in which data can be inputted to a player at aplaying station 206C are represented collectively in FIG. 30 as a datainput unit. In the practice of the invention, a record outputted by thedispenser 360 of the response unit 800 may be in the form of a card 362which is conveniently carried by a player to the redemption facility 906for receipt of a prize for a winning wager. The carrying of the card 362to the redemption facility 906 is represented by a dashed line 924. Acommunication link 926 connects the redemption facility 906 with thedata facility 904. A communication link 928 connects the central station202 with the data facility 904.

With reference to FIGS. 29-31, the operation of the system 900 beginswith the preparation of data, at block 930 (FIG. 31), to be presented toa player at a playing station 206C, via block 932, and to be inputted tothe response unit 800 at the playing station 206C via block 934. In FIG.31, the method steps are presented in solid blocks while the locationsin the system 900 (FIG. 29) for the performance of the steps are shownby dashed lines enclosing the solid blocks. Typically, the input data isprepared at the central station 202, but may also be prepared at someother location. By way of example, a wagering situation may be based onthe outcome of a horse race, as in off-track betting, wherein theidentity of the horses varies from race to race. In this case, a host atthe central station 202 presents the players with the variouscombinations of winning situations (to win, to place, to show) andpossibly handicaps prior to each race. A televised presentation of asequence of races may be broadcast directly from the central station tothe remote playing stations in the form of a live broadcast or in theform of a prerecorded broadcast, or may be broadcast from some othersite distant from the central station but concurrently with thepresentation of the host at the central station. Announcers may alsopresent a situation via radio or telephone.

Thus, for example, the program signal transmitted via the communicationchannel 912 may include a listing of the horses' names andidentification numbers while an instructional signal transmitted via thechannel 912 would include the odds for each horse and the horseidentification numbers plus scoring criteria for categories of win, showand place. If, instead of a horse race, the wagering is based on atelevised game show, such as has been described hereinabove, the programand the instructional signals would include the data and instructions asdescribed above, and would include also data and instructions relatingto the wagering. For example, studio contestants may be playing a gameof geography, and players at the remote stations may be attempting toguess the answers before the studio contestants. Wagers can be placed onthe answers. For example, a question may be posed as to which countriesborder on the Black Sea, and players would enter the names of countriesvia the keyboard 356 along with wagers that the countries entered arethe correct answers to the questions. Prizes can be gradatedcommensurate with knowledge presented. In a similar fashion, the studioprogram might involve mathematical calculations which would be performedby the players at the remote stations, multiple choice answers would beprovided on the television screen 208 at each playing station, and theplayers would bet on the right answer. In this case, the outcome of thewagering would depend on the players, skills as well as on luck. In thesimplest situation, it is possible to practice the invention without atransmission of data and instructions from the central station 202, asin the case of a game of lotto wherein each player chooses six numbersout of a set of one hundred numbers. In this case, data of the eventincluding the time and rules could be published in a newsletter, andinstructions for operation of the computer 804 could be provided in amagnetic medium of the memory 806 (FIG. 26).

As has been described above with reference to FIGS. 4, 8 and 26, theresponse unit, in its various embodiments, outputs a record such as thecard 362 providing data as to a player's response. The outputting of therecord is indicated at block 936. The record may include a player'sscore and identification (I.D.), as well as the serial number of aresponse unit and other data. In similar fashion, the response unit 800employed in the conduct of wagering in FIGS. 29-31 also outputs a recordsuch as the card 362 by means of the dispenser 360 to provideinformation as to a player's wagering. In particular, the number or setof numbers selected by a player, as in a lotto game, the identity of awinning racer, as in the case of a horse race or ski race or boat race,by way of example, or selected elements of a game show which may includean article of clothing or a geographical place or the author of a book,by way of example, is imprinted on the card 362. For ease of describingthe invention, the outputted record may be described as the card 362, itbeing understood that the outputted record may have the form of a tape,coupon, entry ticket or other of various forms as have been describedabove. The card 362 is conveniently carried by a player to theredemption facility 906 to obtain a prize.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, protection against aforgery of the card 362 is provided. This is accomplished as follows. Inaddition to the recording of a player's response and identification onthe card 362, the response data is recorded automatically also in astorage unit 940 of the data facility 904 via block 938. The storageunit 940 is inaccessible to players and all other persons except forauthorized personnel conducting the lottery or other form of wagering.Communication of the wagering data from the playing stations 206C isaccomplished via the communication system 910, particularly via thetelephone lines 636 and the switchboard 622 to the data facility 904.Later upon redemption of the card 362 at the redemption facility 906,the invention provides for the process steps of authenticating therecord, at block 942, and only after a successful authentication,redeeming the card or coupon at block 944. In the process ofauthentication, the redemption facility 906 communicates via thecommunication link 926 to the data facility 904 to interrogate thestorage unit 940 to attain the copy of the record, this being followedby a comparing or the data on the record copy of the data facility 904with the record on the card 362. Any alteration of data on the card 362will cause a disparity between the two records of data resulting in arejection of the card 362. Thereby, the system and methodology of theinvention are rendered forgery proof.

In a typical wagering situation, the entering of data by a player (block932) into the response unit 800 is accomplished within a preset amountof time allocated for the response, after which the response unit 800refuses further entries in accordance with commands of the instructionalsignal as described hereinabove with reference to FIGS. 4, 8 and 26.Alternatively, or additionally, following an announced point in time,command signals may be transmitted from the central station 202directing the switchboard 622 to terminate transmission of furtherentries to the storage unit 940. Thereafter, in accordance with theprocess of the invention, a host at the central station 202 announcesthe winning entity such as the winning number or set of numbers of alotto game or the answers to a game of geography or other form of game,at block 946, and broadcasts the winning entity to players at the remoteplaying stations 206C via the communication system 910. Additionally,the winning entity is communicated to the response units 800 at theplaying stations 206C via the communication system 910, and to the datafacility 904 via the communication link 928 for storage in the storageunit 940. Communication of the winning entity to the response unit 800is indicated at block 934 (FIG. 31), and communication of the winningentity to the data facility 904 is indicated at block 938.

The winning entity includes a reference element against which a player'sresponse can be compared to determined the correctness of the response.The reference element is established, typically, by the host at thecentral station 202 at block 948 for transmission to the evaluation unit808. For example, in the case of a lotto game wherein a player is toselect six numbers from a set of one hundred numbers, the referenceelement would comprise the six numbers to enable the evaluation unit 808to compare a player's response to the six numbers. In the case of arace, the reference elements of participating racers can be one, two,three and so forth. Alternatively, if the wagering game required aplayer's response to fall within a range of values, such as in a casewherein a player is to guess the average summer temperature in Alaska,then the reference element would provide the average temperature and therequisite range of values to enable the evaluation unit 808 to compare aplayer's response with the designated average value, and also todetermine if the player's response falls within the range. Utilizationof the evaluation unit 808 is accomplished by continuing the inventiveprocess at block 950 wherein each player's response is compared to thereference element. Each player's response and the reference element arecoupled, respectively, from the data facility 904 and from the centralstation 202 to the evaluation unit 808, and the result of the comparisonis fed from the evaluation unit 808 back to the data facility 904 forstorage in the storage unit 940.

The invention provides for still further evaluation of a player'sresponse in the form of a scoring of the response at block 952 by use ofthe scoring computer 90 in accordance with instructions from the centralstation 202 provided at block 954. Data for the scoring computer 902 isprovided by the data facility 904. This additional evaluation is usefulin the foregoing example in which a player wagers on the value of theaverage summer temperature in Alaska. The instructions at block 954 mayprovide for a highest score to a player who selects the correct value ofthe temperature, and lower nonzero scores to all players who haveselected temperatures falling within the designated range. Additionalscore points may be awarded, by way of example, for player responsescloser to the correct value than an average deviation of selected valuesfrom the correct value. Thus, the scoring computer 902, in this example,would compute the average deviation of selected values from the correctvalue, in the process of scoring the responses. In the case of a race,such as a horse race or a sailing race, the scoring computer 902 wouldevaluate the odds based on the responses of all the players, and thenemploy the odds in computing each player's score.

With respect to the magnitude of a wager entered by a player, themagnitude may be expressed as a dollar amount or an amount of points, oran amount of gifts to be presented by an advertiser, by way of example.The scoring computer 902 also multiplies the amounts wagered by theplayers' scores to obtain the total prize or award due each player. Inthe event that the amount of prizes to be awarded is based also on thetotal amount wagered, as in the case of a purse at a horse race, thenthe scoring computer 902 also calculates the total amount wagered forcomputing the amount of each prize. Suitable programs for operating thecomputer 902 to accomplish these calculations are well known, and neednot be described herein. The resulting scores and magnitudes of prizesare stored in the data facility 904, and are also transmitted to thecentral station 202 for subsequent transmission to the response units800 at the playing stations 206C. At each of the playing stations 206C,the dispenser 360 of the response unit 800 imprints upon the card 362data as to the amount of the prize. The card 362 is now ready forpresentation at the redemption facility 906, and the data facility 904has a copy of the data on the card 362 to permit the authentication stepto proceed prior to redemption of the card 362. Thereby, the inventionhas accomplished a two-fold goal of being adaptive to a large variety ofwagering situations, and of providing a forgery-proof process forredemption of the cards 362.

The features of the invention, as provided by the system 900, arereadily implemented in a fashion convenient for people at home, as wellas other locations, as may be appreciated from the ensuing discussion ofthe operation and the advantages of the invention. The invention isapplicable to the conducting of a large variety of games of chanceincluding lotteries wherein players can participate in their homes andobtain entry tickets, such as in the form of the card 362, by way ofexample, directly in their homes. Furthermore, the players can pay fortheir wagers without leaving their homes, so that players who do not windo not have to leave their homes, and players who do win need make onlyone trip to a local lottery agent at the redemption facility 906 tocollect their winnings.

FIG. 29 shows the use of the central telephone facility 702 inconjunction with the switchboard 622 to provide a convenient method ofpaying for one's wagers without leaving the home. By means of priorarrangement with the telephone facility 702, a player at any one of theplaying stations 260 is provided with a personal identification number(PIN) which is readily entered via pushbuttons on a telephone toidentify the player to the telephone company. The PIN number securelyidentifies the player to permit a monetary charge to be placed againsthis account in the same fashion as a charge is placed for along-distance telephone call. The PIN number and the amount of moneybeing wagered can be applied via the keyboard 356 and the modem 634 tobe received by the telephone facility 702 in the same fashion as can beaccomplished the the use of pushbuttons on a telephone, but at a muchgreater convenience than by use of the telephone. The keyboard 356 inconjunction with the computer 804 and the modem 634 enable a player toattain connection with the data facility 904 in much the same fashion asa computer terminal may be employed in the home to interrogate acomputer service, such as a service providing legal, medical, travel,financial, or other materials as are currently available. By means ofthe authorization unit 908 which checks the PIN number, the telephonefacility 702 ascertains that the player is a bonafide approved user ofthe telephone system.

The amount of money wagered is billed automatically by the telephonefacility 702 to the bank 708 of the player, or telephone subscriber. Tofacilitate this billing function, the computer 804 may tally the amountof all wagers being entered by a player in response to a game show orother wagering situation presented by the central station 202 and then,upon completion of a succession of wagers, present via the modem 634 thetotal value of the wagers to be deducted from the players account in thebank 708. If desired, an indication of payment by the player may betransmitted by the telephone facility 702 to the data facility 904 toensure that there is no consideration of a player's wager until afterpayment has been made. The process of billing the player, or telephonesubscriber, is similar to that described above with reference to FIG.24. Alternatively, the billing may be performed by a separate entity(not shown), such as by a service provider connected via telephone linesto the switchboard 622.

It is an advantage of the present invention that the identity of winningplayers and the amount won can be announced on television or radioimmediately following the drawing of a winning number. The convenienceof use of the inventive wagering system contrasts greatly with wageringprocesses presently available to the general public. At the presenttime, individuals who wish to participate in a lottery must visit thelocation of a local lottery agent or retailer to purchase a lotteryticket. Thereafter, a second trip is necessary to collect the winningsat the agent's location. The identities of winners often are notpublicly announced immediately following the drawing, and sometimes aredelayed for one or more days. Normally, no televised entertainment valueis attached to a lottery. These and other drawbacks are overcome by thepresent invention.

The response unit 800 is registered in the name of an owner, such as aTV viewer who may elect to become a player in a wagering game. Thehard-copy records dispensed by the response unit 800 can bearidentification data tracing the hard-copy record back to the specificresponse unit. The user's name may even be printed on each ticket. Thehard-copy record, described above as the card 362, may serve as acoupon, ticket, or proof-of-entry ticket for participation in a lotteryor other wagering situation. Furthermore, as noted above, the card mayalso serve as a winning ticket by which a player redeems his prize atthe redemption facility 906.

The card 362 may be provided with validation data and coded markings, ashas been described above, for additional security to be used inconjunction with the forgery-proof benefit provided by the placing of acopy of the card data in the data facility 904 in a secure fashion whichis inaccessible to all persons other than personnel operating the datafacility 904.

If desired, a player may select his or her own lottery number, and tocompare a selected number with a winning number printed on the hard-copyrecord without delay, to enable the player to determine whether a prizehas been won. A ticket or card 362 may be printed with alphanumericcharacters which are readable by the player, and/or by means of barcoding which is to be read by machine for increased accuracy andsecurity in the ticket redemption process. Furthermore, by printing boththe winning number or entry along with the player's entry on the ticketprior to the drawing, a player is able readily to compare his entry witha winning entry. In terms of construction of the system 900, the datafacility 904 may be located distant from the central station, or may belocated on site with the central station 202. Also, the scoring computer902 and the evaluation unit 808 may be located at sites distant fromboth the central station 202 and the data facility 904 or,alternatively, either one or both of the computer 902 and the evaluationunit 808 may be located at the central station 202 or the data facility904. Furthermore, while the playing stations 206C are located normallyat considerable distance from the central station 202, such as in adifferent city, it is within the inventive concept to locate one or moreof the playing stations 206C relatively close to the central station 202as is done in the situation of a studio audience participating in acontest, or in the aircraft shown in FIG. 11. Also, by virtue ofcommunication between the data facility 904 and the central telephonefacility 702, different credit limits can be set for different lotteriessuch that the storage unit 940 is provided with credit limit data priorto the conducting of a lottery or other wagering situation. A wagerwhich exceeds the credit limit is rejected by the data facility 904, andthe telephone facility 702 is directed to credit the subscriber'saccount in the bank 708.

If desired, the data facility 904 may store additional data of playerswho have registered to play a wagering game. For example, photographs ofindividual ones of the players may be stored digitally in the storageunit 940 for subsequent transmission to the central station 202 followedby a television transmission, to the playing stations 206C to allow allmembers of the viewing audience to see a picture of a winning person. Ifdesired, the televising of a person's previously stored picture may beemployed for participation from a remote station in a game show evenwithout the placing of a bet on an outcome of a game show. The game showand the lottery may be, but do not have to be, televised from the samecentral location.

To ensure additional protection against forgery various identificationnumbers or other indicia may be imprinted in coded format, or in aninvisible format such as by use of magnetic media, or holographicoptical recording media, with a copy of the identifying data beingstored at the data facility 904. A ticket presented for redemption musthave the requisite identifying data.

In the playing of a lottery game, the player has the option of selectinga winning number or, alternatively, allowing the computer 804 of theresponse unit 800 to pick a number for the player. This may beaccomplished by providing a random number generation program for thecomputer 804, such programs being well known. Thereupon, the computer804 is able to select in random fashion one or more numbers from a setof numbers used in the lottery.

The capacity of the system of the invention to create and to dispensewagering tickets with security against cheating is an important objectof the invention because this allows players to operate their responseunits, including the printers, in their homes without danger of someonetampering with a printer to forge a winning ticket. The validating dataimprinted on a ticket and the comparison of data with previously storeddata in the central data facility enable a foolproof verification of theticket. By virtue of the invention, the printer cannot be used as aforgery tool. Also, the system meets the objective of providingconvenience to players by allowing persons to participate on the spur ofthe moment in a lottery game or other predictive contest while beingdebited automatically without leaving their home. The conduction ofwagering in conjunction with a task, contest or game of skill rewardedwith a prize adds significant entertainment value and possiblyinstructional value to the wagering experience. Game of lotto and bingocan be accomplished with particular facility by the invention, and thecapacity for immediate announcement of winners on television enhancesexcitement among the participants.

The systems and the methods of the invention apply to events or games,by chance, such as lotteries, and to events or games covered byknowledge, skill or ability, such as quizzes, tournaments, bouts,contests, and races by humans, machines and animals. It should beunderstood that a prediction may pertain, for example, to an event ofthe past, but not known or no longer remembered by a player, so as toconstitute a de facto prediction from that player's perspective. Anoperator or judge of a game of chance or skill determines the rules orconditions that are to be met to qualify for a prize. For example, in aform of betting known as "off track" betting on a horse race, there areodds governing payoffs to winners. The odds are determined at a centrallocation and are reflected in the winning wager information transmittedfrom the central location to the remote playing stations for imprintingon the players' tickets.

In the practice of the invention for wagering, the terms "operator" or"organizer" of a game of chance or skill are intended to include allindividuals in charge of such gaming activities or in any kind ofdecision-making capacity, including judges, referees, handicappers,umpires, racing committees and other officials. The terms"forgery-resisting" and "tamper-proof" are intended to includeprevention and alteration, as well as the preventing of tampering withan object of the forgery, typically a lottery ticket, and also includesmaking inaccessible and preventing electronic access to the object offorgery. The terms "fee" or "charge" are intended to include the meaningof debit, cost, or price charged to participants in a wageringsituation. The terms "wagering", "betting" or "gaming" are intended toinclude the meaning of players' predictions of, or bets and wagers on,the total, final, midstream, or partial outcome of a game of skill, suchas a golf tournament, and includes also the wager amount. The term"ticket" is intended to include the meaning of vouchers, coupons,certificates and other hard copy records.

The term "presentation" of a wagering situation or scenario is intendedto include a presentation over TV, radio, and/or the telephone. The term"authentication" is intended to include processes of validation,verification, confirmation and acceptance of a winning ticket. The term"matching" as in "matching numbers" is intended to include anypredetermined relationship between a player's entered data and thedetermined reference element, and between selected and winning numbers,such as a mathematical, partial, or zero relationship. The term"forgery-resistant data storage facility" is intended to include anyfacility in which stored data are protected against tampering, areinaccessible, or beyond the reach or influence of would-be forgers. If awager is offered by an operator and such wager carries only a singletype of fixed award, for example, or if only one wager amount isoffered, then the term "wager amount determined by a player" is intendedto include the acceptance of such fixed wager.

The term "game show" is intended to include the meaning of one or morequestions, quizzes, predictions and solicitations to perform a task. Theterm "response" is intended to include the meaning of an answer and of aprediction. The term "scenario" is intended to include the meaning of apresentation, definition, view or description of an event or asituation. The term "entered wager" pertains to data entered by a playerprior to the determination of the data constituting a winning wager. Theterm "winning wager" pertains to an entered wager having a determinedcorrelation to a reference element. The term "reference element"pertains to data, such as a number, by which an entered wager is judgedin order to determine whether the entered wager is a winning wager. Theterm "reference element" is intended to include measurements andexpressions of evaluation, such as points scored, time consumed, judgedperformance, achieved ratings and standings of participants andplayers/contestants.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the operators of a game ofchance decide on a formula by which prizes may be won by players whoseselected indicia do not completely match a winning indicia. Rewards maybe granted to players whose selected number or indicia come closest tothe winning indicia. Players may enter selected indicia up to a cutoffpoint in time determined by a game operator; also, means may be providedfor modifying a selected wager prior to the cutoff point. By way ofexample, if a winning indicia is the number 100 and the prize is $50,000for a completely matching number, the following formula may bedetermined and applied in the event that none of the players hasselected the number 100. Players having selected number 101 or 99 divide$30,000 among them, and players having selected numbers 102 or 98 divide$20,000 among them. Other schemes may be employed.

As has been described above, a number or indicium may be selected by aplayer or may be established by random selection. The number assigned toa player is communicated to the central data storage facility prior to adrawing of the winning number.

By way of further example in the use of the invention, a question may beposed in a TV show, the question asking the years in which World War Ibegan and ended. A time limit for answering and a prize also areannounced. A winning player would enter the years 1914-1918 in theresponse unit. The response unit prints out a ticket stating theplayers' entered information and identification. The response unit alsotransmits the same information via a modem and a telephone line to thecentral data storage facility.

When or after the host of the TV-show has announced the correct answeron the air, the signals conveying the correct answer and prizeinformation are transmitted from the location of the TV-show to players'remote response units. The response units print the winning informationon all players, tickets for comparison purposes. Winning tickets onwhich a player's entered information matches the winning information maybe presented by the ticket holders at an appropriate location forredemption or playoff. As described above, the agent at the location canverify the authenticity of the ticket by communicating with the datastorage facility and obtaining confirmation. In the case of a ticketformed as a magnetic card, the magnetic card can be validated by passingit through a well-known scanner connected to the data storage facility,the scanner reading the data recorded on the card for transmission tothe data facility whereupon the data facility transmits back a signalacknowledging verification or denying verification.

In some instances, the conditions under which a lottery is conducted aresimilar in many respects to those of sweepstakes and other games. Thepresent invention therefore is intended to be applicable to any game,contest or wagering based on knowledge, skill, or chance, in which it isimportant to prevent tampering with or forging of hard copy records byinterested parties. While it may not be necessary to employ all thesafeguards described herein in connection with every wager, the operatorof the wager game has the option of employing the security measuresdisclosed herein. For example, in the case of wagering situations forwhich prizes of high value may be awarded, there may be further storageof a player's data indicia, number or symbols in an accessible locationto facilitate secure redemption of a ticket. In the event that aplayer's betting exceeds acceptable monetary limits, the automaticbilling via the telephone system, as disclosed hereinabove, may limitthe amount of betting and disclose to the central data facility and tothe response unit a rejection or limitation of bets exceeding apreviously established limit. When required, players are notified andare asked to communicate their wager information to a designatedlocation for storage and comparison purposes. Such a notice to playersmakes it clear that tampering with a player's home response unit isuseless. Thus, players are dissuaded from attempting forgery or otherform of falsification.

Security is enhanced further by providing the response unit with aregistration or serial number by which each response unit is registeredin the name of its owner. Hard-copy records dispensed by the responseunit may bear the same serial number, if desired, to enable tracing of ahard-copy record to the specific response unit which generated therecord. This security is in addition to that provided by the PIN numberdescribed above by which a player gains access to the telephone system.Normally, in a wagering situation, a time limit is establishedelectronically for the entering of wagers at the keyboard of eachresponse unit such that a late entry, made after the time limit becomeseffective, are not stored at the central data facility, and are notprinted on the player's ticket, this precluding the player from winninga prize for a late entry of wager.

In the printing and dispensing of hard-copy records by a response unit,it is noted that the records may have a variety of forms whichfacilitate different manners of utilizing the hard-copy record. Forexample, in the event that a ticket is employed wherein the winningnumber and a player's entry are printed, the player has the opportunityto check as to whether he has won, or to the extent in which he has wonin the event that various levels of winning are present. In the eventthat a magnetic card is employed as the hard-copy record, the card canbe utilized in connection with automatic electronic debiting of a playerby the amount of the wager, and with an automatic electronic creditingof winnings to a player's account. Equipment, such as automatic bankingmachines employing card readers, are already available for cooperationwith the inventive system for providing these functions of crediting anddebiting. Bar codes and bar code readers may also be employed in whichcase the bar code is imprinted on a ticket along with data imprintedwith alphanumeric characters to be readable by a player.

As has been described above in the operation of a response unit, theinvention enables participants in the remote audience to designate areasof interest. This is particularly important with respect to an awardreceived by individual ones of the participants, such that the award isrelated directly to a participant's area of interest. Thus, in the caseof a game show wherein advertisers' products are displayed in variousareas of interest, a participant of the remote audience can select aproduct area of interest and, subsequently, receive an award in the formof a coupon allowing him to purchase a product in the area of interest.This greatly increases a participant's interest in the game show. Thisfeature also increases greatly the chance that a participant will employhis coupon, as by visiting the store of an advertiser to redeem thecoupon. Also, in a quiz program, a contestant is given the opportunityto select an area of interest from alternative areas of interest inwhich the contestant is believed to have a special knowledge area. Prizecoupons may be available to winning contestants entitling the player toa discount on merchandise promoted by a sponsor. However, in the eventof a discount coupon issued for a product that is not in demand, theunwanted product, most likely, would not be redeemed. However, unlikemerchandising systems of the past where coupons have been issued inareas of little interest with consequential low rates of redemption, inthe case of the present invention a high rate of redemption isanticipated because of the capability afforded to participants to selectareas of interest, both with respect to manufacturers' or retailers'products as well of areas of interest in terms of a participants'knowledge.

In view of the use of the telephone system for communication of databetween a response unit and the central data facility, it is possiblealso to employ the telephone system to substitute for communication viathe television and/or radio in areas wherein television and/or radioreception are not available to a participant. Thus, by way of example,the progress of a contest can be reported via telephone to aparticipant. Also, if desired, such progress can be reported by atelephone to supplement data received via television and/or radiobroadcast.

If desired, the central data facility or the telephone system may storefinancial information regarding individuals who are subscribers to awagering service provided by the invention. The financial informationmay be updated periodically or when desirable, for instance each time asubscriber pays a bill or commits a sum to a wager. This enables thetelephone or other service facility to check the financial standing orcredit status of each player in the context of the wager a player wishesto make.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, it is noted thatthe concept of playing a game by responding to stimuli, such as ascenario presented by television, by radio or by telephoniccommunication, can be extended over a period of days, weeks, or evenmonths. Scenarios may be authorized such as in the case of dramatic orprearranged scenarios. Over such an extended interval of time, arespondent might make entries via the keyboard of the response unit 22(FIG. 4), 210 (FIG. 8) or 800 (FIG. 26), or update entries duringparticipation in a game, a contest, an educational process, a processfor shopping for merchandise, or other extended field of endeavor. Anextended playing or responding interval can be illustrated readily withrespect to a shopping for items that may be offered on sale or at adiscount at some future time. The basic procedural steps follow thosewhich have been described above for the conduction of an educationalgame. There follows an example by use of the system 200 of FIG. 6 withthe response unit 800 of FIG. 26.

The extended shopping interval proceeds as follows. A list of itemsobtainable by purchase at a local market is set forth in a listingcontained, by way of example, in a newspaper, in a mailing tohouseholders, or on the television screen 208 along with identifyingnumbers which are provided also to the memory of the response unit viathe instructional signal. The listing may comprise all of the productsobtainable from a manufacturer or from a retailer, even if only some ornone of the products are on sale or discounted at the time of thelisting.

The respondent employs the keyboard to enter into a memory of theresponse unit the identifying numbers of those items for which there isan interest in a future purchase at a sale or discounted price. Fromtime to time over the ensuing days, weeks, or even months, theinstructional signal transmits to the response unit an updated listingof the items of merchandise including data of items put on sale or ondiscount by the manufacturer or retailer. This effectively flags thoseitems which are on sale or available at discount. The computer 804 (or acomparator 372 or 374 in the case of use of the response unit 210 ofFIG. 8) compares the respondent's entries with the flagged items, andthen indicates a match by a suitable indication such as by sounding thebell, and by leaving a message on the display 358 of the response unit.The respondent, by command entered at the keyboard, directs the printerto list the sale or discounted items. Alternatively, respondent enterson the keyboard items desired for purchase and, upon such items beingput on sale, the printer of the respondent's response unit prints outcoupons conveying a discount on the items without additional commands byrespondent. Such discount coupons may be printed even during an absenceof the respondent, and will be waiting for the respondent upon his orher return.

Furthermore, with respect to the wagering aspect of the invention, therespondent, or player, can wager on which item or items may go on saleor be discounted. The selected items serve as the subject of a bet inthe same fashion as presented in the foregoing description of thewagering.

The foregoing description has demonstrated that the variousconfigurations of central station and remote station can be employedadditionally in the conduction of a wagering situation, either by itselfas in a game of lotto, or in conjunction with an educational program, asporting event, or a program directed specifically to products ofinterest to an advertiser, by way of example.

The methods of the invention will now be described in connection withFIGS. 32 and 33, depicting method steps and FIG. 34 illustrating amailing piece used in collecting household data.

FIG. 32 is a diagram of the initial steps in practicing the presentmethod following exposure of a shopper 1003 to an advertisement 1001which generates a visual and/or audio stimulus 1002. The stimulus has animmediate impact as well as a lasting effect on shopper 1003. It is anobject of the present method to quantify the degree of erosion of theeffectiveness of a stimulus over a short period of say two days, or alonger period of, say seven days.

Stimulus 1001 can take any form, including TV and radio commercials,print media advertisements and others.

The advertisement 1001 is identifiable by a reference element, such as anumber, or by the date and time it is displayed and noticed by theindividual 1003. One or more products may be promoted and identified inadvertisement 1001.

Advertisement 1001 also may promote a service, an organization, aresort, or any offering to the public herein collectively referred to asproduct. The individual 1003 who is persuaded by the said stimulus tobecome a buyer, lessee, etc. of the promoted product, registers his orher intent to acquire the product identified in the advertisement 1001in step 1004, which is an entering in the coupon dispenser or responseunit 1005 of a request for a record 1008 described in FIG. 33. Theentering step 1004 includes an identification of the stimulus ofadvertisement 1001. Thus, both the product intended for purchase and theadvertisement which prompted the buying decision are identified and canin turn be identified on the record dispensed by the dispenser orresponse unit 1005. Response unit 1005, is described in connection withFIGS. 1, 3-6, 8 and 26 and can include a clock directing the printer ofthe individual coupons and the cumulative record 1018 of FIG. 33 toprint the time of a shopper's request on both types of records.

The term "stimulus" as used herein is intended to include the meaningsof any presentation designed to bring about an act on the part of aperson exposed to a stimulus, including TV and radio commercials,telephone promotion or telemarketing, print advertisements, directmailings, free-standing inserts, indoor and outdoor advertising, directmail coupons, billboards, posters, electronic displays and the like.Thus, a stimulus can be a theater or sports program listing an event andthe cost of an admission ticket. Such an announcement can indicate thediscounts available to persons exposed to and acting upon said stimulus,

The terms "tabulating, analyzing, measuring, massaging, comparing,processing and quantifying" are used interchangeably, except wherespecifically described or limited.

The term "shoppers' locations or "individuals' locations" are intendedto include locations remote from a central transmitting station, such ashomes, offices, clubs, restaurants, etc., such locations being providedwith a response or dispensing unit.

The use of a noun is intended to include when applicable, the singularor the plural of the noun. The term "product" is intended to includeservices, such as those pertaining to credit cards, insurance, homeimprovements, transportation, etc. The terms quantifying, analyzing,evaluating, tabulating and processing shoppers' records are, whenappropriate, used interchangeably.

The term advertiser is intended to include the meanings of marketer,seller, lessor, promoter, retailer, discounter and organizer of acontest, poll, vote or campaign.

The purpose of exposing individuals to a stimulus is to prompt, cause orinduce such individuals to perform an act desired by the promoter, suchas the act of purchasing, renting, leasing, selling, voting, respondingto surveys and polls, selecting, identifying, responding or expressingan opinion, both direct and implied.

In FIG. 33, the response unit 1005 prints a record 1008, such as adiscount coupon requested by a shopper in a printing step 1006, whichmay be combined with printing step 1007 of a cumulative printout orrecord 1018. Record 1008 specifies the selected product and the purchaseincentive, i.e. the discount or other value available to a shopper uponpurchase of the product. Record 1008 also identifies the shopper and thestimulus that prompted the purchase decision. The identification of thestimulus can, but does not have to be, a condition to be met by ashopper to qualify for the benefit. Alternatively, a shopper identifyingthe advertisement through appropriate entry on the response unit, canqualify for a larger benefit than one who has not identified thestimulus.

The coupon is taken by the shopper to a retail store to step 1010.Between the moment the shopper enters the store and the actual purchaseof the targeted product, the shopper is exposed to step 1011 to theinfluence of competitive in-store promotion and point-of-purchaseadvertising. Shopper's purchase decision 1012 reflects all conflictinginfluences and results in a purchase decision 1013 in favor of theoriginally selected product, or in purchase decision 1014 in favor of acompetitive product, or in the abandoning of the purchase 1021.

Following decision 1013, the shopper purchases the selected product andpresents the record for redemption in step 1015. Shopper's records arecollected by the seller in step 1016 and are available for tabulation orother analysis in step 1017. Because all coupons associate the purchasedproduct with the individual shopper and the stimulus which prompted theproduct selection, the tabulation of a shopper's redeemed couponscreates over time a completely accurate picture of that shopper's buyingbehavior.

According to the present invention, the response unit or dispenser 1005includes known means for printing on a paper tape or other matrix acomposite record of products for which individual coupons have beendispensed. In a preferred embodiment, the printer of the dispensercreates a duplicate imprint of the information printed on the coupon onthe matrix of the cumulative record 1018, which also identifies theresponse unit user or dispenser 1005.

Shoppers replace the matrices of records 1018 periodically as needed,preferably when replenishing the tape forming the matrix for individualcoupons 1008. The cumulative records 1018 also can take the form of amailing piece described in connection with FIG. 34. Normally, records1018 are collected by the same organization performing record tabulation1017. However, because records 1018 list all products selected and theassociated stimuli, the records 1018 represent a valuable data base inthe sense of portraying a family's shopping intent. In a related sense,a shopper's buying interest, even if not ultimately implemented, makessuch a shopper a prime target for a follow-up promotion, such as directmailing.

Additional valuable conclusions may be drawn by a comparison andanalysis of records 1018 and records 1017. By simply deducting in step1019 the products of records 1017 actually purchased from the productsof record 1018, the net loss of sales 1020 following the time ofrequesting a coupon (and the assumed decision and intention of buyingthe product), can be determined.

Such net loss will be due to a decision not to buy any product of thekind specified on coupon 1017, or a decision to buy a competitiveproduct; the latter being the much more likely reason.

The use of the methods of the invention relative to the quantitativeanalysis of some variables in the fields of advertising and promotionswill now be discussed. The variables cited are intended to beillustrative of different types of measurements that can be performed;others can be added by persons skilled in the art. Variations in resultsby virtue of modified, controlled conditions are statistically evaluatedin the following examples The resulting records 1017 and/or 1018 areanalyzed in each instance.

EXAMPLE 1

A product commercial is shown once in prime time on a single TV-stationin the area served by said station and is not repeated for one week. Thecut-off period for the redemption of discount coupons is fixed at oneweek. In a modified example, different commercials for the same productare shown and their results are compared and evalued.

EXAMPLE 2

The circumstances of Example 1 are replicated, except that theTV-commercial is shown twice or more frequently in prime time.

EXAMPLE 3

Examples 1 and 2 are replicated except, that some or all commercials areshown at different times of the day.

EXAMPLE 4

Examples 1 and 2 are replicated, except that a radio commercial is addedunder otherwise identical circumstances.

EXAMPLE 5

Examples 1-4 are replicated, except that the discount rate of thecoupons is varied.

EXAMPLE 6

Examples 1-5 are replicated except that the cut-off period forredemption of coupons is varied.

EXAMPLE 7

Examples 1-6 are replicated for products in various price ranges.

EXAMPLE 8

Examples 1-7 are replicated and coupon redemption is limited tospecified stores.

EXAMPLE 9

Examples 1-8 are replicated at different times of the year.

EXAMPLE 10

Examples 1-9 are replicated, except that some or all commercials arereplaced or supplemented by print advertisements.

EXAMPLE 11

Examples 1-9 are replicated. The product commercial promotes two or moredifferent products and the effectiveness of a commercial relative todifferent products is evaluated.

EXAMPLE 12

Examples 1-11 are replicated, except that identical stimuli (e.g.broadcast commercials or print advertisements) are presented by two ormore sources (e.g. broadcast stations or newspapers) which overlap inthe territories they cover. The relative effectiveness of individualsources is evaluated.

The present method has other important applications in the field ofstatistical analysis, one being the effect of different stimuli ongroups of persons having the same characteristics and the other beingthe effect of an unchanged stimulus on different groups of persons.

By measuring the impact of controlled variables of stimuli on anunchanged population sample, the effectiveness and the change ineffectiveness of different or modified stimuli can be quantified.

Conversely, by measuring the impact of an unchanged stimulus ondifferent population samples, the effectiveness of the same stimulus ondifferent populations can be quantified.

FIG. 34 depicts an alternative form of the cumulative hard copy record1018 dispensed by the response unit described herein. In the embodimentof the hard copy record designed for use in market research, a mailingpiece, such as a post card is dispensed by the response unit. Accordingto a preferred embodiment, the printer of the response units inshoppers' homes described in connection with FIGS. 1, 3-6, 8 and 26 isadapted to accommodate and print on a card capable of being mailed underbulk mailing regulations, whereby the card requires no postage by thesender, the postage being paid by the addressee or in this instance theadvertiser.

One side of the record 34-B bears address 1035, which is the address ofthe organization undertaking the research, which can include tabulationand analysis of all of the records collected from shoppers. In the topleft hand corner the numbered response unit 1036 identifies the shopperor user through the response unit. Each response unit is registered inthe name of an identified individual.

The reverse side 34-A of the post card can take the form shown,including the heading "Identification" 1030, a column headed"Advertisement" 1031 and a heading "Product" 1032. The stimuli oradvertisements under the heading 1031 are numbered and listed in group1033. The products under heading 1032 and promoted in saidadvertisements are grouped under 1034. For instance, the decision torequest a coupon redeemable upon the purchase of tomato soup wasprompted by TV-commercial No. 47; the decision to request a coupon witha discount on an airline ticket was prompted by the printedadvertisement No. 56. It is a simple matter for the sponsor of apromotion to indicate the number of the commercial or advertisement inthe commercial or advertisement by a number, letter or other symbol.This enables the organization analyzing the marketing data to determinethe source of the stimulus, e.g. TV-station, radio station, or printpublication, as well as to relate the purchasing decisions to the timefactor, i.e. the date and the part of the day during which the stimulusor stimuli appeared. Date and time can be printed by well known meansadded to the printer of the response unit. Thus, the comparative effectsof differing stimuli during different parts of the day can bedetermined. Such a capability would be of interest in the event aretailer cooperates with a manufacturer in a test market. In such a casethe redeemed coupons which can be coded or otherwise identified, can betabulated and the period elapsed between the time of coupon receipt anduse can be measured, including the diminishing rate of redemption overmeasured time periods.

If desired and to allow shoppers to express their reactions accurately,provisions can be made on the card to indicate that the buying decisionwas the result of cumulative effect of several stimuli for the sameproduct. In that instance, the consumer would check off a space, marked"cumulative", or even identify two or more stimuli by enteringidentification information.

The above described hard copy record can have the configuration of anormal post card with return address and a bulk mail permit appearing onone side, the other side being available for a listing of the typedescribed and including, when desirable, space for advertising orpromotional messages. Such messages can be printed by the dispenser ordirected by the instructional signals controlling the printer. The saidrecord can have other configurations and can also, by itself, constituteor comprise a discount coupon or cash voucher. In order to ensure thesurrendering of said record to a retail outlet or other organizer of theresearch program, the record can contain a notation that, uponsurrender, the shopper will be entitled to receive value, which may be adiscount, cash, free samples, etc. According to a preferred method, thesaid cumulative record is exchanged by a shopper for a new matrix at thesame time the paper tape which serves as the matrix for the coupons mustbe replaced. Preferably, the matrices for the individual coupons and thecumulative record are inserted into the response unit at the same time.Normally, the matrix for the composite record has a number of spaces onthe side shown in FIG. 34-A equal to the number of coupons 1008comprising the coupon matrix tape.

The value of the incentives described and intended to induce shoppers topurchase the promoted products can be varied by the instructionalsignals and can range from cents off to larger discounts, including 100%discounts, i.e. free samples. The electronic signals controlling thedispenser units also can control inhibiting or blocking means whichprevent the receipt of certain electronic signals not intended for theowners of such dispensers. Using well known techniques, the receivingmeans in the dispenser unit include means to selectively permit orinhibit the reception of coded electronic signals, thus distinguishingbetween different signal streams. As an example, a dispenser is providedwith means to accept the receipt of a plurality such as six distinctstreams of coded electronic instructional signals and to reject allothers. The sender of said electronic signals, by including theappropriate coded signal instructions, can select the types ofinformation to be conveyed by said signals and accepted by the dispenserunit. Accordingly, information regarding unwanted or excluded productsis not received by the dispenser and no coupons regarding these productsare printed. In this manner, the promoter of products can focus saidpromotional activities on targeted audiences and can avoid thedispensing of coupons carrying value consideration to individualsbelieved not to have a need for said products.

It will be obvious that, using the above system and methods, a sponsorcan ensure maximum efficiency of promotional efforts by adapting thedispensing of tokens such as discount coupons and free sample coupons tothose shopper groups, including demographic, psychographic and othergroups, most responsive to the promoter's sales strategy.

In another embodiment of the methods described, the stimulus, e.g. aradio commercial, is automatically identified in the following mannerwithout input by the shopper. Concurrently with the transmission of thecommercial message, electronic instructional signals are transmitted tothe response units which convey an identification of the radiocommercial. The electronic signals direct the printer to print anidentifying reference element on the discount coupons as well as on thecumulative record. The said instructional signals can be coded andcombined with signals conveying purchase inducements or scoringinstructions for computing the value of a prize awarded for answering aquestion or having made a successful prediction.

In another application of the invention, a marketer can measure thecounteracting effect of a stimulus presented by said marketer. Forinstance, following a competitor's advertisement, a marketer can exposea sample population to a stimulus specifically designed to blunt orovercome the effect of the competitive advertisement. The marketer canmeasure the effectiveness of said stimulus in the face of competitiveefforts.

In the practice of the invention, an entire family, as well asindividual members of household consisting, say of father, mother and 4children 17, 12, 8 and 5 years of age, can all be sampling units. Theolder members of the family can be participants in contests, such asgame shows or prediction of the outcome of sports events and can receivecoupons. Challenges designed for younger children and educationalprograms can offer awards in the form of coupons on different toys orfood items wanted by children. Each member of the family, including thefive year old, has a personal identification code entered by theindividual at the time of selecting the preferred item.

The coupons dispensed to each individual are either redeemed by saidindividual or are turned over to the family head, the family shopper orother designated person. The coupons requested, as compiled on thecumulative record, reflect as a minimum each person's desire to receivethe selected item. Although some of the coupons, such as those dispensedto children, may not be redeemed once the family shopper has entered thestore, valuable information as to each person's desires is collected bythe promoters of these programs and can be followed by promotionstargeted with rifleshot precision.

A determination of the demographic or psychographic characteristics of apopulation becomes difficult or even meaningless in areas having mixedpopulations. In such areas, a market test can be replaced by a samplingunit consisting of a family or even an individual to whom promotions canbe directed. The findings of such a test can then be used as probabilitysamples in projection and in multistage sampling. Each household membercan be provided with a PIN-number or other identification which isentered when specifying a product coupon. The method described can beuseful when it is intended to experiment with a new method ofmerchandising to a narrowly defined market segment.

The invention enables advertisers to directly measure and quantify theimmediate impact of advertisements and promotions, as well as theirdiminishing effect over time. Furthermore the initial and lasting effectof a single aspect or feature of an advertisement or promotion can bequantified. The effect of even slight modifications can thus bemeasured.

In a preferred application of the invention to market research, anadvertiser or promoter arranges for a single insertion of anadvertisement in a single newspaper; no other advertisement, broadcastcommercial or other stimulus is presented in the market area served bysaid newspaper. By means of the techniques described, the effect of saidstimulus can be measured in terms of any desired units of elapsed timeor in terms of other discrete, controlled variables. For example, ifsaid advertisement appears in a morning newspaper, the number ofrequested and redeemed coupons can be tabulated for, say the firsttwelve hour period following the appearance of the advertisement. Thecumulative record compiled in the response units indicates the time atwhich a coupon has been requested, the time of the appearance of theadvertisement being known. Alternatively, the measurements can betwenty-four or forty-eight hours, or it can be a week or longer.

The said measurements can be made over any desired time periodsirrespective of the cutoff date for coupon redemption. However, amarketer may wish to quantify the immediate impact of a promotion andmay tabulate coupons redeemed by the end of the following business day.

Similarly the effectiveness and the synergism of a combination orrepetition of stimuli can also be measured both with reference to thenumber of insertions (advertisements, commercials, etc) and the numberof sources (newspapers, broadcast stations, etc).

The dispenser normally is provided with means by which individuals enterthe identification or designation of the stimulus which has prompted abuying decision. In order to test the accuracy of a shopper's continuingrecollection, the instructional electronic signals directing the printerof the dispensing unit to print a product-specific token, can alsoconvey in coded form the identity or other designation of the specificstimulus to which individuals have been exposed and the effectiveness ofwhich is to be tested or measured. A comparison of these two inputsestablishes the strength of the impact, or lack thereof, or the shopperin terms of accurately recalling the stimulus.

It can be argued that the reason for unredeemed dispensed coupons isrelated primarily to the diminishing or overridden effect on the shopperof the initial advertisement. It may also be contended that most or allof the said sales loss is likely to be caused by the in-store offer orpromotion of a competitive product. Particularly if the time limit setfor claiming the discount or other incentive is short, not exceeding forexample one week or even two days, the likelihood of a shopper receivinga discount coupon on a competitive product by means other than in-storecouponing in such a short time span is very small. Therefore any salesloss, as reflected by the difference in the totals of requested couponsand redeemed coupons will largely be due to in-store promotion andadvertising. By tabulating and analyzing said records, the early and thelasting impact of an identified advertisement by an identifiedTV-station, radio station or print medium can be quantified, along withits vulnerability to competing stimuli.

The invention enables advertisers to directly measure and quantify theimmediate impact of advertisements and the diminishing effect of suchadvertisements over time. Furthermore, the initial and lasting effect ofa discrete advertisement and modifications thereof can be quantified.

In a preferred embodiment of applying the invention to market research,an advertiser arranges for a single insertion of an advertisement in asingle newspaper; no other advertisement, broadcast, commercial or otherstimulus appears in the market area served by said newspaper. By meansof the techniques described herein the results of the singleadvertisement can be measured over any desired units of time. Forexample, if said advertisement appears in a morning newspaper, thenumber of requested and redeemed coupons can be tabulated for, say thefirst twelve hour period following the appearance of the advertisement.Alternatively the period chosen can be twenty-four or forty-eight hours,or it can be a week or a month.

Similarly the immediate and lasting effectiveness of repeated stimuli,such as broadcast commercials can be measured. The effectiveness and thesynergism of a combination of stimuli can also be measured, both interms of the number of insertions (advertisements, commercials, etc) andthe number of sources (newspapers, broadcast stations, billboards, etc).

In a modified version of the method described hereinabove, an organizeror research firm intends to induce individuals to perform a certain actin consideration of an inducement, which can be a financial inducement.As an example, an organizer of a survey may present a stimulus toindividuals in their homes. The stimulus may be an identifiable radioadvertisement. Instructional electronic signals are transmitted on asubcarrier frequency by said radio station to the dispenser or responseunits of individuals at remote locations. The act to be performed by themember of that broadcast audience, i.e. the users of the response units,can be the completion of a questionnaire, such as a list of questions,or the selection of items from a listing printed on a post card or othertoken in accordance with said electronic signals. The token can beadapted for automated processing by a research firm or the surveyorganizer. Upon surrendering said token to the organizer, the individualwho has completed the survey, is entitled to a reward. Followingexposure to the stimulus, respondents receive the questionnaire,complete the same and surrender it to the organizer at a specifiedlocation to collect their reward in person or by mail. Upon receipt ofmany such filled-in questionnaires, a market research firm will be ableto analyze the aggregate results of that survey and report the findingsto the organizer of the survey. It will be obvious that by structuringthe survey to meet different objectives, a great many objects oftabulating, processing and analyzing the survey returns on the hard copyrecord may be achieved. The types of stimuli are numerous and can meetobjectives of organizers in the fields of quantitative and qualitativemarket research, the teaching of educational courses and the grading ofexamination results, conducting televised home shopping programs andmany entertainment programs, such as game shows.

The present method is much more reliable than the so-called diary methodcurrently used in market research, in that it requires only a single actin response to a promotional message, i.e. a product selection bytouching keyboard buttons. In the diary approach, the steps required,which are a product selection and a diary entry, do not automaticallyfollow each other and one step may inadvertently be omitted. Thus, thediary approach, in which a person intending to purchase a needed productfirst selects or clips a coupon and as an independent step, makes adiary entry is a two-step process. It is replaced by the present method,in which the shopper by requesting a product-specific coupon performsonly one, and much less cumbersome, act.

The invention permits generating a household by household data basequantifying the effect of stimuli under varying circumstances ofpromotion. By tabulating and comparing coupons requested and redeemedunder conditions of controlled variables, singly or grouped, theeffectiveness of each such stimulus can be analyzed and quantified. Therequesting by shoppers of coupons having monetary value and associatingthe product selection with the identified stimulus replaces the keepingof diaries and other attempted forms of tracking shoppers' purchasingdecisions. Variables whose impact on shoppers could not be quantifiedheretofore on a single household basis, include purchase incentives,frequency and timing of stimuli, singly or in combination. Suchassessments are made possible by the present invention.

The method described permits a very direct and focused quantitativeanalysis of the effectiveness of a stimulus. This is achieved bylimiting the incentive to a single one, such as a discount on a movieticket, and presenting the stimulus through a single source, say onenewspaper advertisement. By avoiding the fuzziness introduced byoffering incentives on different products and therefore of differentdegrees of interest, a clearly identified, single incentive permits anunequivocal assessment of the impact of a specific stimulus.

The method permits a sharply focused analysis of a single stimulus on ahomogeneous population. An example of an ideal statistical measurementsituation would be the exposure of the residents of a retirement home toa newspaper advertisement for a denture adhesive, wherein the originalpurchase, use and replacement of the product can be monitored.

It is to be understood that the above described embodiments of theinvention are illustrative only, and that modifications thereof mayoccur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, this invention is not tobe regarded as limited to the embodiments disclosed herein, but is to belimited only as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for measuring the effect of stimuli on the purchasing decisions of product shoppers, comprising the steps ofa) exposing a plurality of individually identifiable shoppers to an identifiable stimulus intended to prompt a shopper's decision to purchase an identified product, b) providing individual shoppers with a dispenser activatable by a shopper and traceable to said shopper, said dispenser being programmable by electronic signals transmitted from a central location, said dispenser being capable of printing and dispensing permanent records, c) following exposure of a shopper to said stimulus and upon the activating by a shopper, dispensing by said dispenser at a shopper's location a permanent record carrying an incentive to purchase said identified product as conveyed by said programming signals, said incentive being available upon the purchase of said product, said shopper's activating including an identification of said stimulus for printing on said record, said record being traceable to said dispenser by means of identification on said record, d) In conjunction with the purchase of said product, a shopper presenting said record to receive said incentive, said record identifyingI. the purchased product, II. the dispenser having dispensed said record, and III. the stimulus which prompted said shopper's decision to purchase the identified product, e) repeating the aforementioned steps a) to d), and f) tabulating a shopper's records to analyze said shopper's purchasing behavior in response to identified stimuli.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said coupons are the severed portions of a matrix.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said matrix is a paper tape.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shoppers are exposed to a plurality of identified stimuli to promote the sale of identical products and in which individuals identify the specific stimulus which has caused them to purchase the identified product.
 5. A method for determining the purchase behavior of individual members of a household, comprising the steps ofassigning a personal identification reference element to each member of a household, presenting to members of said household identifiable stimuli intended to promote the sale of identified products, a household member selecting a promoted product for intended purchase, providing at household locations means identified with a household and activatable by a member of said household for generating and dispensing monetary coupons traceable to said means, following activating of said means by a member of said household, generating and dispensing at said household location a coupon carrying a monetary incentive to purchase a selected product, said incentive being available upon the purchase of said product, said activating including an identification of the stimulus which prompted said selection by said individual member of said household, said activating including an entering of said household member's personal identification, in conjunction with the purchase of a selected product a household member surrendering said coupon to receive said incentive, collecting surrendered coupons, and determining the purchase behavior of individual members of a household by tabulating said surrendered coupons carrying incentives to purchase products selected by individual members of said household identified on said coupons.
 6. A method for determining the purchase behavior of individual members of a household, comprising the steps ofassigning a personal identification reference element to each member of a household, presenting to members of said household identifiable stimuli intended to promote the sale of identified products, a household member selecting a promoted product for intended purchase, providing at household locations means identified with a household and activatable by a member of said household for generating and dispensing monetary coupons and for compiling a cumulative record of said coupons, said coupons and said record being traceable to said means, following activating of said means by a member of said household, generating and dispensing at said household location a coupon carrying a monetary incentive to purchase a selected product, said incentive being available upon the purchase of said product, said activating including an identification of the stimulus which prompted said selection by said individual member of said household, said activating including an entering of said household member's personal identification, said identification appearing on said coupons and on said record, in conjunction with the purchase of a selected product a household member surrendering said coupon to receive said incentive, collecting surrendered coupons, and determining the purchase behavior of individual members of a household by tabulating said surrendered coupons carrying incentives to purchase products selected by individual members of said household identified on said coupons and by analyzing said tabulation in the context of said cumulative record.
 7. A method according to claim 6, wherein said cumulative record is a redeemable record.
 8. The method according to claim 6, wherein said cumulative record is a mailing piece.
 9. The method according to claim 8, including the step by a household member of mailing said cumulative record to an organization for evaluation.
 10. A method for evaluating the inducement effect of a stimulus on individuals comprising the steps of:an organizer exposing individuals to a stimulus intended to induce the performance of a desired act by said individuals, providing said individuals with electronically programmable token dispersers capable, upon the request of individual ones of said individuals, of dispensing a token having value to said requesting individual, said value being available upon the performance of said act and upon surrender of said token, programming said dispersers by means of electronic instructional signals transmitted from a central location, said programming including value information to be borne by said token, said step of programming occurring subsequent to exposure of individuals to said stimulus and, prior to an individual requesting the dispensing of a token through entry of a command in said dispenser, dispensing to each of said requesting individuals a token bearing said value information, performing the desired act by at least some of said individuals having tokens, said token surrendering individuals surrendering said tokens to said organizer, said token surrendering individuals receiving said value, and said organizer measuring the inducement effect of said stimulus on individuals by evaluating the performance of the desired act by said individuals as evidenced by surrendered tokens.
 11. The method according to claim 10, in which said stimulus is identified by individuals who enter said identification on said token following dispensing thereof.
 12. The method according to claim 10, wherein said stimulus is identified by an individual at the time of surrendering said token.
 13. The method according to claim 10, wherein said dispenser includes means for inhibiting the reception of specific electronic signals, said inhibiting being controlled by instructional electronic signals.
 14. The method according to claim 10, wherein said dispenser includes means for negating the printing of records not specifically identified by said instructional signals.
 15. A method for measuring the effectiveness of broadcast and print advertisements, said method comprising the steps of:presenting advertisements to shoppers, said advertisements advertising specific products, each advertisement being identifiable by timing of its presentation and/or by a reference element, providing shoppers with dispensers, each dispenser having means operable by an individual shopper for printing and dispensing a hard copy record carrying an incentive to purchase at least one of said specific products, the benefit of said incentive being receivable in a retail store within a stipulated period of time, each of said dispensers being identifiably associated with an individual one of said shoppers, said record being of the type which is honored upon the purchase of an advertised product by a shopper in said retail store, said record identifying the dispenser having printed said record and indicating the advertisement corresponding to said advertised product, a shopper selecting for intended purchase at least one of said advertised products, a shopper operating said shopper's dispenser to direct the printing of one of said records, a shopper's dispenser printing and dispensing said at least one record to said shopper, said record identifying said shopper's dispenser, one of said advertised products, and the advertisement corresponding to said advertised product that wa presented when the shopper selected the advertised product for intended purchase, a shopper purchasing said selected product in said retail store, in conjunction with said purchase, a shopper presenting said record in said retail store within said stipulated period of time to receive the benefit of said incentive, collecting presented records from said retail store, and tabulating a presentation rate of said presented records relative to their associated advertisement.
 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein said period of time ends on the day following the day of dispensing said record.
 17. The method according to claims 1, 5, 6 or 15, wherein a single stimulus promotes the sale of a plurality of identified products and wherein a shopper enters a selection of a product from said plurality in said dispenser, the token dispensed by said dispenser carrying value available to a shopper upon the purchase of the selected product.
 18. A method for evaluating the effectiveness of stimuli on the purchasing behavior of individuals comprising the steps ofa seller exposing individuals to an identifiable stimulus intended to promote the purchase of a product, providing said individuals at their locations electronically programmable token dispensers operable by said individuals and capable upon the request of individual ones of said individuals of dispensing a token carrying a purchase incentive value, said value being available to a shopper upon purchase of a product promoted in said stimulus and upon surrender of said token, programming said dispensers by means of electronic instructional signals transmitted from a central location, said programming including information relative to the purchase incentive value carried by said token, subsequent to exposure to said stimulus, an individual operating said dispenser to request a token, said request identifying the stimulus to which said individual has been exposed, dispensing said token to said individual, said individual purchasing said promoted product from a seller, said individual surrendering said token to a seller, said individual receiving said incentive value, and said seller analyzing the effectiveness of said stimulus as evidenced by surrendered tokens.
 19. A method for measuring the purchase inducing effect of stimuli under a variety of circumstances on a plurality of individuals, the method comprising the steps ofa seller exposing a plurality of individuals to stimuli intended to induce the purchase of products by said individuals, providing said individuals at their individual locations electronically programmable token dispensers capable upon the request of an individual of dispensing to said individual a token having purchase inducement value, said value being available to an individual upon the purchase of a product and the surrendering of said token, programming said token dispenser through electronic signals transmitted from a central location, said programming including a varying of purchase inducement values, subsequent to the exposure of individuals to said stimuli, an individual requesting the dispensing of a token through entry of a command in said dispenser, dispensing a requested token at said individual's location, said individual purchasing said product, said individual surrendering a token to the seller, said individual receiving said value, and said seller measuring the inducement effect of said stimuli on said individuals by analyzing the purchase of said products by said individuals, said measuring method being implemented under a variety of circumstances, singly or in combination, said circumstances being determined by said seller and varying with respect to and selected from the group consisting of the nature, frequency and combination of stimuli; the nature and value of inducements; the nature and price range of promoted products; shoppers' demographic and psychographic characteristics; shoppers' distance from point of purchase; the time of day; the day of the week; and the season.
 20. A method for quantifying the diminishing effect of a broadcast or print advertisement comprising the steps ofexposing shoppers to an identifiable advertisement which promotes the sale of a first product in a retail store, providing individual shoppers an opportunity to operate a dispenser for generating a permanent record carrying an incentive to purchase said first product intended to be purchased by said individual shopper, said record identifying said advertisement, a shopper operating said dispenser, a dispenser generating a first product record carrying said incentive, dispensing said first product record to said shopper, compiling in individual dispensers at shoppers' locations listings of first product records dispensed to individual shoppers, a shopper delivering a first product record to a retail store, prior to the purchase of said first product in said retail store, a shopper being exposed to the advertising of a second product competing with said first product, a shopper deciding whether to purchase said first product, a shopper, having decided to purchase said first product, purchasing said first product and surrendering to a retail store said first product record to receive the benefit of said incentive, tabulating the first product records surrendered by a shopper to a retail store, and deducting the surrendered first product records of a shopper from the first product listing of said shopper,so as to quantify the loss of sales of the first product advertised in said identified advertisement and intended by a shopper to be purchased, between the time of said shopper's exposure to said advertisement and the time of said shopper's purchase of said first product in a retail store.
 21. In a method for evaluating the effectiveness of stimuli on individuals, the method being of the type including the steps of:a) exposing individuals to at least one stimulus intended to induce the performance by said individuals of an act desired by an organizer, b) distributing permanent records to individual recipients at their locations, said records having value that has been determined by said organizer and is available to a record recipient upon the performance of said desired act induced by said stimulus, c) receiving said value by said individuals upon performance of said act and surrender of said record to said organizer d) said organizer evaluating the effectiveness of said stimulus as evidenced by surrendered records,the improvement which comprises the steps of: e) carrying out said method under a variety of circumstances, said circumstances varying with respect to and selected from a group of variables consisting of the nature, frequency and combination of stimuli; the nature and value of inducements; the nature of the desired act; individuals' demographic and psychographic characteristics; individuals' distance from the location of the performance of the desired act; the time of day of the stimilus; the day of the week of the stimulus; and the season of the stimulus; and f) evaluating the effectiveness of stimuli under said varying circumstances applied discretely or in combination.
 22. A method for evaluating under varying sets of circumstances the effectiveness of stimuli experienced by individuals, the method comprising the steps of:a) exposing individuals to a stimulus under a set of circumstances, said circumstances having been selected from a group comprising nature, frequency, combination and timing of stimuli; and redemption value of records, b) individuals acting upon said stimulus, c) distributing permanent records having redemption value, said value being available to said individuals who have acted upon said stimulus and who redeem said records, d) evaluating the effectiveness of said stimulus as evidenced by records redeemed, e) repeating steps a)-d) under at least one additional varied set of circumstances, and f) evaluating the change in the effectiveness of stimuli under said varied sets of circumstances as evidenced by said records redeemed.
 23. The method according to claims 1, 5, 6, 10, 18, 20, 21 or 22, wherein the effectiveness of a stimulus is measured over at least one discrete determined period of time.
 24. The method according to claims 1, 5, 6, or 15 wherein said stimulus is carried by one television station in the market served by said television station.
 25. The method according to claims 1, 5, 6, or 15 wherein said stimulus is carried by one radio station in the market served by said radio station.
 26. The method according to claims 1, 5, 6, or 15 wherein said stimulus is carried by one print publication in the market served by said print publication.
 27. A method for measuring the effect of purchasing stimuli on purchasing decisions comprising steps of:exposing an individual to a variety of purchasing stimuli; presenting said individual with an opportunity to select a plurality of available product-specific coupons; selecting, by said individual, at least one of said coupons for redemption, said at least one coupon at least partially identifying said individual and at least one stimulus from said stimuli; redeeming said selected coupons with the purchase of a product; and reviewing redeemed selected coupons to determine effect of at least one of said stimulus upon comparison of redemption rates of said coupons for said variety of stimuli.
 28. A method for measuring the effect of purchasing stimuli on purchasing decisions comprising steps of:exposing individuals to a variety of purchasing stimuli; providing means for said individuals to request and be given a variety of product-specific coupons related to said purchasing stimuli; dispensing requested coupons to requesting individuals, said step of dispensing comprising providing said dispensed coupons with information regarding the purchasing stimuli that said requesting individual was exposed to; and determining effect of individual stimulus of said variety of stimuli by reviewing a comparison of said requests by said individuals, said purchasing stimuli that said individuals were exposed to, and said coupons that are redeemed.
 29. A method for quantifying effect of discrete purchase stimuli variables on purchasing behavior of shoppers comprising steps of:exposing individuals to purchase stimuli relating to products; presenting said individuals with an opportunity to select product coupons relating to said products; selecting, by at least some of said individuals, at least some of said product coupons; recording information regarding discrete variables of said purchase stimuli that said selecting individuals were exposed to in relation to said selecting individuals' actual selections; varying said discrete variables of said purchase stimuli over a period of time; and reviewing selection rates of said selected product coupons relative to different types of said discrete variables of purchase stimuli used over said period of time. 